Two More Mutants
by Broadway jr
Summary: Professor Xavier finds Mike and Emili, two homeless mutants. The two seem normal, but we soon discover their amazing powers- and dark secrets.
1. Cerebro's Findings

"Professor, what are you doing up so late?" asked Storm. She pulled her white hair out of her face. "It's nearly midnight."

"Oh, I'll be going to bed in a minute Storm," replied Professor Xavier, wheeling himself around to face her. His eyes were tired. "I just wanted one more look at Cerebro. Something tells me we will have a few more students very soon." The professor tapped his temple. As a telepath, he is able to sense when other mutants are near, as well as reading their minds.

Storm laughed and turned to leave. "Good night, professor."

Xavier wheeled himself over to his desk. He never enjoyed being in his chair, but could be a lot worse, he knew that. The boulder that Magneto pushed on him could have killed him, instead of damaging his spine. The professor shook his head. He used to be friends with Magneto as a young man, back when Magento was just Erik. But Magneto turned against humans, wanting to hurt them. Xavier couldn't have that, so the two grew apart. Xavier shook his head. What's done is done, and Erik is in his past now. Right now, he's got a school to run.

The Xavier Institute seemed like a place that just took in kids, but there is so much more to it than what meets the human eye. The children may seem like the other kids, but when they get back to the Institute after school, they can be what they truly are: mutants. The children learn about their powers, and learn to control them here. Then when they graduate high school, they can go on to be productive members of society, or stay behind and teach, like Storm, or the other teacher, Wolverine. Xavier was so proud of the children. They are learning and growing up to be hard-working, responsible mutants.

Xavier looked over at the clock. It was 12:30, a half hour since Storm told him to go to bed. Better get to bed, he thought. Just as he was about to wheel himself out the door, a nagging feeling crept into the back of his mind. Check Cerebro again. Once more couldn't hurt. The professor looked at the screen. He was shocked- not one, but two mutants had appeared on screen, both in the same place, the woods not a mile away from the Institute. Professor Xavier thought for a moment. Everyone is asleep, and the next day was Saturday. The professor didn't want to wake everyone up now. Everyone could come tomorrow in collecting the two new students. There wasn't many of them, so they all could fit on the X-jet. Everyone always wanted to go anyway. Professor Xavier turned off the lights in his study and went to his room. He lied in bed waiting for sleep to take him. The professor had one last thought before drifting off into a deep sleep. _I didn't even know people lived in those woods._


	2. The Students

The next morning, Professor Xavier rolled himself into the kitchen for breakfast. Due to his late night last night, he was the last one up, which was odd.

"There you are, Charles," grumbled Wolverine, standing with the newspaper next to the coffee pot. "We were about to send someone in after you." Wolverine was the only one that called the professor by his first name, so Xavier calls him Logan, a feat no one else dares.

"Yes, well, Logan, I had a late night last night. Cerebro picked up the trace of two mutants, not even a mile away from here."

"Really? Zat's awesome!" said Kurt, his German accent obvious in his voice. Kurt sat at the table with the other students, Kitty, Evan, Scott, and Jean, but with out his holographic image inducer, looks much different from the rest of the student. He was blue and furry, with only two fingers on each hand. His ears are pointed, and he has a tail, but no one here cares about his looks.

"Are they here now?" Scott asked. Scott was basically the leader of the students. He was tall and strong, with brown hair. No one had seen the color of Scott's eyes since he became a mutant. Every time he opened his eyes, lasers came out of them uncontrollably. The only way Scott can walk with his eyes open is to wear a special pair of ruby-quartz glasses.

"No," the professor said. "It was past mid-night when I discovered them. They probably needed their rest, so I decided to wait until morning."

"Well, then who's going to get them with you?" asked Jean. Xavier wondered if Jean was trying to tap into his mind with her telekinetic abilities. There was no need to if she was. Jean always went to recruit the students. Jean was a very popular girl at school. She was smart, athletic, and a very pretty redhead. Jean was a good choice to bring along. She made the new mutants feel very important, very special. A quality some of Xavier's student's don't have. Evan, for example. People may like Evan; he was good at skate boarding and was goodhearted, but he was not very outgoing. He was a classic teenager, besides being able to shoot bone-spikes from his skin. Not many people are fascinated by the classic teenager.

Xavier pretended to think. "Well, I suppose you all can go-"

"Really professor?" asked Kitty. Kitty was the youngest out of the students, and never got to go anywhere. Kitty reached to the toaster that was sitting on the table and pulled out the toast. She didn't need to pop it out, since Kitty is able to go through solid objects. "Ouch, that's hot!"

"Yes, Kitty. Everyone can come to the meet the new mutants this time," explained the professor. "Now, everyone go and get ready."

The students all ran off toward their rooms, while Storm followed behind. On her way out, Storm looked out the window at the silent rainfall. The next moment, the sum was shining brightly. She looked at Wolverine and the professor. "People are happier when the sun is out," she said in her native African accent as she left the room.

Now it was only Professor Xavier and Wolverine in the room. Wolverine looked at the professor. "You sure you want all the kids to go?" he growled. Wolverine was always talking like that. Grumbling, growling. He wasn't exactly a happy camper, but so would you if you woke up one day with you entire memory gone. All Wolverine knew that he is a mutant and his name is Logan. The only reason why he even knew his name was because it was on the dog tags he was wearing. The professor befriended Wolverine, and now he teaches combat and survival at the school.

"Of course I want all the kids to go, Logan," replied Xavier.

"Remember the last time all the kids went?"

The professor tried not to. When Professor Xavier noticed that a mutant named Rouge was in Mississippi, he suggested that all the kids come. When they got down there, however, Rouge seemed to believe that they were vicious mutant hunters and ran. But the professor was certain that this would not be like last time. "I'm sure, Logan."

Wolverine grunted and left the kitchen to get the X-jet ready. The professor sighed at Wolverine's negativity and called for the kids as he wheeled himself into the front room of the Institute. The kids were down in seconds. They all looked like nice, happy teenagers.

Xavier smiled. "Everyone in the X-jet."

The jet landed in a clearing in the woods not to far from where Cerebro said the children were living. Everyone got out and looked at there surroundings. It looked like nothing has been living here for ages. There was nothing but trees as far as the eye can see, which was not very far since the trees were so compacted together. It looked as though nothing could get in or out of this clearing. "You sure its here, Charles?" asked Wolverine.

"The coordinates were printed straight from Cerebro. The kids should be about twenty yards west from here," Xavier replied.

"Kurt, why don't you go check for us?" Storm asked him.

Kurt nodded, "Alright!" The next second, Kurt was gone, teleported to the professor's directions. And then a second after that, he was back. "Zere is a house zere, but it looks condemned."

Wolverine looked at Professor Xavier and raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe they're not big on up keep?" Evan suggested.

"Scott, can clear us a path?" the professor asked. Scott nodded, raised his glasses, and blasted a path with his laser eyes. Once he was done, Scott put his glasses back down and he and the rest of the students followed their teachers through the woods.

Five minutes later, everyone was in front of the house. Kurt was right; it did look condemned. The grey paint was peeling off the walls where ivy hasn't taken control. The door hinges were rusted, and the window panes were either crooked or gone all together. The wooden front porch looked like it was being consumed termites, and the bushes in front were wildly overgrown. It looked like no one has lived here in years.

Xavier looked at everyone. The students looked ready to explore the house but Wolverine and Storm looked reluctant. Xavier took a deep breath and scanned the house for mutant minds. He detected something, but that something did not mean that it was defiantly mutants. It could possibly be an animal living in the building. The professor said, "I'm not sure what's in there, but we might as well look around, considering we came all this way."

"What are you doing, Charles? Your just getting the kids hopes up for nothing," Wolverine said gruffly.

Professor Xavier didn't respond. He just wheeled himself into the house- and was surprised at what he saw. The dirt that covered walls, floors, and furniture had fresh streaks in the dust. The table had Chinese take-out containers on it next to the dust print of a guitar case. Xavier looked up at Wolverine. I told you so, Professor Xavier said to Wolverine telekineticly. But the professor was also worried. If there were children living here, why were they living here in such a rat hole?

Suddenly, Jean ran up to them. "Professor, you have to see this." Xavier and Wolverine followed her to find the students surrounding the old couch and love seat. When they parted, the teachers could see a boy sleeping on the couch and a girl sleeping on the love seat.

Professor Xavier looked at the two children. "We found them," he said.

"How can you tell they're mutants, Professor?" Kitty asked.

"Look at the boy's arm," was the professor's reply.

Everyone looked at the arm that stuck out from underneath the teenage boy's ratty blanket. It was the arm of a robot.


	3. Michael and Emili

For a few minutes, everyone just stared at the two sleeping figures. Who were these kids? Where are there parents? Do they even have any parents? Are they brother and sister? Why are they sleeping in an abandoned house in Bayville, of all places? Everyone turned to Professor Xavier, waiting for directions. Xavier wheeled closer to the two children, to get a better look at them. The boy was very muscular and tall; he barely fit the couch. He had short dark brown hair that was sticking up. The girl looked different from her comrade. Her was light brown and down to her shoulders. Her nose was crooked, like she had broken it. All in all, these were two good looking kids. Who would give them up?

Finally, Kitty spoke, barely over a whisper. "Professor, what should we do?"

"Yeah," Evan said a bit louder. "Should we call someone, like the Bureau of Child Welfare or DYFS or what?"

Slowly, the professor shook his head. "No... no," he said slowly. "Let's talk to them first. If they don't want to come to the Institute, then we'll inform the police."

"Uh, Professor?" Scott said, nervously. He pointed towards the kids. "Should I wake them up?"

"Yes, yes of course," the professor replied. "Best not have them wake up to us watching over them. It may scare them."

Scott slowly walked over to the couch where the boy was sleeping. Every step he took left a foot print in the dust and cloud to form at his feet. Scott shook the boy's shoulder. "Kid," Scott said. "Hey kid, wake up."

"Ugh," the boy groaned as he turned over on the couch. Thinking the boy was waking up, Scott moved back towards the others. The boy rose robotic arm and then suddenly thrust-ed it in the direction of the girl. A bolt of electricity followed in its wake, until the electricity hit the girl.

"Ow!" she said, still half asleep even though she was practically struck by lightning. "Michael! What the hell was that for!"

"What did I tell you, Emili? I told you not to wake me up unless we are in a life or death situation, and I highly doubt that we are in fact in a life or death situation."

"You idiot! I was over here, happily asleep, then you zapped me!"

The boy lowered his voice. "Then who tried to wake me up?"

The two turned their heads to face the crowd of teachers and students that were staring at them.

Kurt waved. "Hello."

"Oh no," the girl whined. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..."

The two started scrambling all over, collecting their random stuff. "We're sorry," the boy said, over his partner's continuing oh no's. "We really are sorry. We needed a place to stay tonight and we figured, 'Old abandoned building. Why not?' But trust me now we are done, and we are leaving. Just please, don't arrest us. Or call someone to arrest us. Or call the Bureau of Child Welfare or DYFS or whatever."

"Oh no!" said the girl one last time.

"Well, we're leaving now. Bye," said the boy.

"Hold it you two," Wolverine growled, stopping the kids. "Now you both sit your butts on that couch right now."

The girl's eyes grew wide in fright, while the boy looked like he was trying to hold back laughter.

"Logan," Xavier said out loud. Don't scare them, was what he told Wolverine mentally. Wolverine grunted.

"Hello children," the professor said. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. These are my colleges Logan and Ororo Munroe, and my students, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, and Evan Daniels."

The girl nodded. "Pleasure," she said sarcastically.

"What are your names?" Xavier asked.

The two stared at each other, as if mentally debating whether or not they should say their names. Professor Xavier tried to read the girl's mind, but after an odd look on her face, was quickly pushed out. He tried again with the boy, but the same result.

The boy sighed. "My name is Michael Burns. This is Emili Day."

"Emili is spelt with an 'i' not a 'y'," Emili clarified, a bit nervously.

"Okay," the professor said. "Where are your parents?"

Mike looked at his feet when he spoke. "We don't have any."

"Oh. I'm sorry," the professor said. "Now, why are you here?"

"Mike already told you. We need a place to stay," Emili said. Then she looked accusingly at them. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Well, I have this machine," Xavier explained. "I call it Cerebro. With Cerebro I am notified if any new mutants show up."

"Mutants?" Mike asked. With his non-robotic arm he started to reach for a watch on the old side table.

"Yes, mutants. Cerebro told me that they would be right here, in this very house," the professor finished.

Emili looked shocked. "Mutants? In this neighborhood? I can't believe it. Can you believe it, Mike? Neither can I! Professor, if your out looking for mutants, you better get a move on it, they are getting away!" Xavier gave her a look. "Nice try?" Emili asked, with a half smile on her face.

Xavier smiled. "Nice try."

"So what do you want with us?" Mike hesitantly asked. "Don't hurt us, we're just kids." Michael brought Emili close to him, very protecting.

"Why does everyone think that we're trying to hurt them?" Professor Xavier asked. "I want you both to come to my school."

The two looked confused. "School?" they asked in unison.

"Yes. The Xavier Institute is a great place for young mutants. We give you a safe place to grow and learn how to control your powers. Ask the kids, they love it," Professor Xavier said.

"He's right," Jean said. "I've learn a lot on how to control my telekinetic powers."

"Same here," said Kitty, with Evan nodding enthusiastically in the background. "Not telekinetic but still..."

"And without the Professor, I never would have been able to open my eyes again because of my powers," Scott said. "Lasers shoot out of them," he whispered to Emili, who's eyes grew wide in wonder.

"And I vould ave never left my parent's home in Germany," Kurt announced happily, smiling broadly at Emili. She smiled back, and a warm feeling rose in Kurt's chest.

"So, would you two like to join us at my school?" Xavier asked.

Mike rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know."

"Yeah. It sounds great. It really does. Lord knows how I need to control my powers, but..." Emili said sarcastically.

"We can't pay," Mike said.

"Obviously," Emili added.

"There is no cost," the professor explained. "Its not some fancy private school. I own the school, so I personally know that there are no hidden expenses.

Michael shook his head. "I still-"

"Fine," Emili interrupted.

"Really?" Jean asked excited.

"Really?" Mike asked confused.

"Yeah I mean, why not?" Emili said. "Free food, hot shower, Lord knows its been a while since we've slept in a bed. Sounds like a good deal to me."

"Excellent!" the professor said. "Kids, help them gather their things, while the adults go start the jet."

"We have all of our things," Mike said. The professor turned around and saw two back packs, a duffel bag, and a guitar case.

Xavier nodded as if he expected to homeless kids to have more than that. "All right, then. Everyone get on the jet."

Everyone walked outside into the dense woods. Emili and Mike were making these weird faces at each other, but Xavier guessed that were so close that was normal for them.

"So, you, like, play guitar?" Kitty asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Emili questioned, snapping back into reality.

"The guitar. You play, right?" Kitty pointed to her guitar case.

"Oh, yeah," answered Emili. "I taught myself. I've been playing since I was eight."

"Maybe you can play some tunes on ze jet?" Kurt asked, still smiling.

Emili smiled. "I would love to, really, but my guitar broke. See?" Emili opened the case. It contained was extra string, a tuner, a guitar pick, a music book, and some clothes but no guitar. Glaring at the ground, Emili said, "It was smashed to bits."

Scott looked confused. He asked, "How did it break?"

Emili was busy glaring angrily at the ground so Michael answered. "This girl got angry at her and threw it off a building."

Storm looked shocked. "That's not a healthy mind."

"Yeah," Mike agreed, "she's not exactly what we call 'stable.'"

"Well, here she is," Wolverine grumbled. "The X-jet."

Mike and Emili stared up at her. The plane was silver, and polished to shine. She must have been ten feet high and twenty feet long, but was very aerodynamic. The floor lowed and allowed all the passengers to climb on board. The inside of the plane was silver too, but with black seats that were more comfortable than they looked. The intercom said, "Everyone this is Wolverine speaking. Now everyone sit down and buckle up 'cause we're about to take off!" Silently, almost as if it were being levitated, the X-jet rose into the air, 20,000 feet above sea level.

Emili's green eyes lit up. "This is fantastic," she said to no one in particular. At least it was fantastic, until something in the jet stopped working.


	4. Emili's Soft Side

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Wolverine as he tried to pull the jet upward. It was working a little but everyone knew the plane was not going to stay up for long. "What's wrong with this thing!" Wolverine hit the jet as if he thought that it would help.

The professor had to think on his feet. "Kurt!" he yelled. The furry blue boy looked at him. "I want you to start teleporting people off this plane. Storm, create some winds that will keep the plane in the air until everyone is off."

Storm nodded. Her eyes glazed over, she lifted her hands and she rose a foot in the air. The plane soon began to stay in the air, though in no way was the ride going smoothly. Xavier was nearly flung out of his wheel chair on several occasions. "Kurt!" he yelled. "I told you to start getting people out of here!"

"But Professor," Kurt answered, "Mike and Emili are gone! It is like zey disappeared!"

"What?" Professor Xavier asked, dumbfounded. With great difficulty he wheeled over to where Mike and Emili had taken their seats. Kurt was right, they were gone.

Scott looked at his professor. "Do you think they did that they did this to the jet?"

The X- jet dropped a few feet. The professor didn't want to think so, but it seemed likely that Mike and Emili did this to the jet. After all, Mike didn't really seem to want to come, and Emili's sudden change in opinion was suspicious. Were the kids under the influence of the evil Mystique and those mean Brotherhood boys?

The plane started to shake feverishly. "I'm losing the wind!" Storm yelled. "Brace yourself!"

Suddenly the X-jet was flying smoothly again. Confused, along with the rest of the passengers, Wolverine brought the jet back up to a safe flying height. Everyone was breathing in deep sighs of relief- everyone except the two figures that appeared in the two empty seats next to the professor. Mike had his arm around Emili, who seemed to be upset as she gently held something in her arms.

Wolverine looked back at Mike and Emili. "Seems like you two just missed the party."

Michael's brown eyes turned cold. "Not now."

"Where were you guys?" Evan asked. "We nearly, like, died!"

"We were saving your lives that's what we were doing!" Michael yelled.

Jean stared at him. "What?"

With a sigh, Emili turned to face every one. Kitty screamed. Emili's arm's held a blue jay, but the bird was obviously dying. There was a gash in the bird's body and his leg was missing, spewing blood all over Emili. The poor thing was breathing quick and hard, with obvious difficulty. Emili looked up. Her face was solemn. Emili took a raspy breath. "The bird was stuck in your engine," Emili said with difficulty. Anyone could see how much pain she was in. "When the engine started going, and I went to check out the problem."

"How'd you do that?" Scott asked. Michael glared. "Umm, tell me later."

Emili continued. "When I saw the bird, I quickly got him out, but he had dented the propeller. Mike had to come with me to fix it and- and get the bird's leg out of it."

"Thank you for saving us," the professor said solemnly.

Jean looked at the dying creature in Emili's arms. "Why did is the bird in here?"

Michael looked at her straight in the eyes. A protective intensity burned through them. "You have to understand, this bird is in pain."

"Your going to kill it?" Kitty yelled, shocked and upset.

"Helping him pass," Mike corrected. "But there isn't anything anyone can do to save him. He's going to die one way or another. We are just making sure that his death is quick, painless, and with dignity." Mike looked at Emili. "You ready?" Emili nodded. Mike took the bird in his hands. With a deep, sorrow-filled breathe, Mike's cyborg arm sent an electric pulse through the bird, too much for the bird to handle. The bird died instantly. Emili closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

There was a moment of silence through out the jet. No one was prepared for this. Not the bird, not the two homeless mutants, none of it. It was too much for a person to handle. Finally. Mike said, "I don't think that this is going to work out. I mean, we've known each other for twenty minutes, and then this bird's tragic death, and him accusing us of sabotaging the jet." Mike pointed at Scott. "I just don't think we will be able to live together that well."

Scott stood up and walked over to Mike. He looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accused you. I owe you guys my life, and I'm begging you, please, come live in the Institute."

"I don't know," Mike said. He turned to Emili. "What do you think?"

Everyone looked at her. Emili straightened herself up and wiped her face with her arm, accidentally leaving a trail of blood. She looked at her male counterpart and said, "I've made enough decisions for us. You decide."

Michael stared into Emili's soft sad eyes, then looked at Scott. Mike could tell that Scott wasn't one for apologies; it had taken a lot for him to say that he was sorry. "Well," Mike said, smiling, "we're going to stay. I mean, you do need a shower, Em."

Emili glared at him, but smiled at the same time. "Just in time too," Wolverine announced. "Welcome to the Institute."


	5. At the Institute

Mike and Emili walked into the front hall of the Institute, shocked. "It's... it's amazing!" Emili said. It certainly was. When a person walked through the front doors they are greeted by a huge staircase. The living room was huge and held everything a teenager could want: a television, a computer, and a PlayStation. But what interested the two newcomers the most was upstairs.

"You'll each have your own room. This will be your room Emili, and Michael, your room is across the hall," Storm said as she showed them around.

"Bed!" Emili yelled, throwing her bag and guitar case on the ground and jumping on it. "Oh my God, an actual bed!"

"It's been a while since we've slept on one of these." Michael explained to a very confused Storm. "You would get excited to if you've been sleeping on couches and floors."

Storm nodded, understanding. Back in Africa, she might have been worshiped as a Goddess, but the tribe that worshiped her still didn't have mattresses. "Well, I'll give you two an hour to make yourselves at home. Then we're going to get you new clothes."

"New clothes?" Emili asked excitedly, popping up from the bed. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Yes," Storm said. "If you're going to be starting Bayville High on Monday, then you will need more than two shirts and a pair of jeans each."

"Okay," Emili said, smiling at the thought of new clothes. Then it hit her. "What? Bayville High?"

"Yes. That's the high school where the children go." Mike and Emili gave each other a worried look. "Why?" Storm asked. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, you see, Emili and I have never been to school before. Nor do we normally talk to people our own age. School is kind of a scary idea to a couple of misfits like us," Mike explained.

"Oh, don't worry," Storm assured them. "School isn't as scary as it seems. Plus you'll have Jean and Scott and the others who will look out for you. I promise: you have nothing to be afraid of." Emili nodded but still looked worried. Storm smiled and said, "I'll be back up in an hour."

Mike put his arm around Emili as Storm left the room.

Downstairs in Professor Xavier's office, he and Wolverine were talking about their two new recruits. "Well, what do you think of them Logan?" Xavier asked.

"I think they're hiding something," Wolverine grumbled. "Did you look into them Charles? Read their mind?"

"That's the thing. I couldn't," the professor replied.

"What?" Wolverine asked, alarmed. This has never happened before.

"I tried to read Emili, but I was pushed out. Same thing happened with Michael."

Wolverine was confused. "Are you sure you want these kids here Charles? We know nothing about them. Their names might even be fakes."

"I'm not going to kick two kids out on the streets because I can't read their mind, Logan. I'm simply going to trust them." Just then Storm entered. "Ah, Storm. How are Michael and Emili adjusting?"

"They're scared to death of going to school on Monday. They've never gone to school before," Storm explained. "Never even talked to kids their own age."

"See?" Wolverine said. "We don't even have a school record to judge them by. We're flying in the dark with these two."

"What's going on?" Storm asked.

"Logan thinks that Emili and Michael can't be trusted because I can't read their minds," the professor said.

Storm was shocked. "You can't? How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Xavier replied. "I just don't know. What I do know is that we are not going to let the students know and we are going to treat them like we treat the others until we find reason to think otherwise." Professor Xavier looked at Wolverine. "Trust them, Logan."

Wolverine walked out of Xavier's office, grumbling, "How can we trust what we don't know?"


	6. In the Mall

An hour later, Storm went back upstairs to collect Michael and Emili. She found them in Emili's new room, looking completely different. Mike's hair, that was sticking up before due to how greasy his hair was, now was spiked in the front with gel he must have found in the bathroom. His dark brown eye's stuck out against his pale skin instead of hidden by the dirt that used to cover his face. Also, Emili's hair wasn't light brown after all, but dirty blonde. Their clothes were clean; well, they were cleaner than they were before. It's amazing how a shower can completely transform how people look.

"Are you kids ready to go?" Storm asked.

"Yeah," Emili replied, getting up off the bed.

The three of them went downstairs to the living room where the rest of the students were relaxing. "We're going to the mall. Does anyone want to come with us?" Everyone volunteered to join them.

"Michael, before you go, I have to talk to you," Professor Xavier called.

Mike ran up to him. "Yeah Professor?"

The professor held out a watch to Michael. It was rather plain looking, blue with a red trim around the digital numbers. "This is called a holographic image inducer. It allows people to see you as a normal human."

"Thanks but no thanks professor," Michael said. "I've already got one." Mike held up his robo-wrist. Except, it wasn't the wrist of a robot. It was the wrist of a normal human boy.

The professor was dumbfounded. "What... Where did you get that?"

Mike gave a small smile. "Emili and I made it. Her designs, my tech-work."

Professor Xavier was shocked. The holographic image inducer took him years to make. These fifteen year old kids have one of there own. "Oh," the professor said. "Well then. I guess you wouldn't be needing this. Have fun at the mall." And with that the professor wheeled off, still pondering the children's fantastic work.

They all piled into a large van. Everyone started talking to Mike and Emili at the same time, asking them a bunch of different questions.

"So where are you guys from?"Jean asked.

"Well, we were born in New Orleans, but when we were four, we were adopted and we traveled all across the country," Mike replied.

"So what are your powers?" Scott wondered.

"Well, I'm a cyborg, so my robo-arm can change into different stuff, like a hammer, or a pan," Mike said. Then he thought a little. "I also can- how can I put this- _harness _electricity, and zap it where I want it to go."

Scott nodded his head. He remembered that little demonstration this morning.

"I," Emili started, "on a similar note, can possess anything with an electrical current. For example..." She looked around and saw Evan's Walkman. She reached over and touched it- and it looked as if she were being sucked inside. The Walkman soon flew out of Evan's hand and began flying around the van. After a while the Walkman stopped, landed in Evan's lap, and Emili was back in her seat next to Michael.

"Wow," Scott said in awe.

"I can also possess guns, but that is not exactly the highlight of my powers."

"So are you two, like, brother and sister?" Kitty wondered.

"Not by blood, but we grew up together, so we might as well be," said Michael, shaking his head.

"Well then, are you two together, like, a couple?" Evan said.

Emili and Michael started shaking their heads frantically. "No no no no no no no," Emili said. "Absolutely not. He's practically my brother."

An awkward silence filled the van. Breaking the silence, Emili turned to Kurt. "So," she said, smiling, "you mentioned that you were from Germany?"

"Yes," Kurt said. "I lived zere all my life before coming to ze Institute."

"Ich spreche fließendes Deutsch," Emili said.

"Wow! Jetzt kann ich mit jemandem in meiner Muttersprache sprechen," Kurt replied to the gibberish.

"Ja," Emili said.

"What?" Scott asked, obviously very confused.

"Emili speaks German!" Kurt said excitedly. "She is fluent in it."

"Really?" Scott asked. Emili nodded. "How'd you learn?"

Emili shrugged. "I don't really know. I kind of just picked it up, like babies do with their native language. "

"But babies just don't 'pick up' German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Chinese," Michael noted.

Emili just shrugged once more. "So I have a knack for languages. Sue me."

After a few more random questions, the kids finally arrived at the mall. "Okay kids, stick together," Storm yelled after the excited children. She gave Mike and Emili each a hundred dollars to spend on clothes. The girls just dragged Emili off to their favorite stores. The guys just slumped off towards the food court. "Meet back here at 11:00!" Storm called after the students.

Jean and Kitty crowded around Emili at their favorite store, "Famous Boutique." The store was full of baby tees and baby doll dresses. There were rows of Capri pants and GX jeans, and there was more glitter in that store than Emili has ever seen in her life. Before Emili could say anything, Jean and Kitty threw clothes into Emili's arms and pushed her into a dressing room. After a few minutes Emili emerged from the dressing room wearing a purple tee-shirt that exposed her stomach, flair jeans, and an uncomfortable look on her face. Emili was about to voice her opinion when Jean squealed, "Emili! You look amazing!"

Emili looked at herself in a mirror, disgustingly. "I do?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Totally!" Kitty said. "Look at you! You look hot! Mike is going to be drooling all over you if you wear that."

"He, wha- what?" Emili jumbled.

"Oh come on Emili, we know you like him," Kitty answered her, her hands on her hips.

"Seriously Emili," Jean added. "You should try hiding it better."

"I do not like him and I do not care if he likes what I'm wearing!" Emili yelled and marched back into the dressing room. In seconds Emili was changed into her old clothes and stormed out of the store. She huffed by Jean and Kitty and declared, "Come on. We are going to the store next door. "The Grunge Place," or whatever. Kitty and Jean rolled their eyes and followed.

At the other end of the mall in a store called "Dudes," Mike, Scott, Evan, and Kurt were dying of boredom. There was nothing the boys liked about shopping, nor were they any good at it. The four of them just wandered about, trying to find something Michael could wear to school on Monday. The quartette just mozied into "Dudes" and Michael, sick of looking for clothes, just started to grab things of the racks, not even bothering to check the sizes. Evan noticed and pointed it out to him. Mike groaned as he began looking for his sizes.

"Dude," Kurt said. "How did you get clothes before today? You suck at this."

Mike gathered all the clothes that actually fit him into his arms. "Emili picked out my clothes." The boys burst into laughter. "What?" Mike asked.

"You had her pick out your clothes for you? For the love of God why?" Evan asked, still doubled over from laughter.

"Well, 1)I hate shopping and 2)according to her I have 'horrible fashion sense,'" Mike contorted.

"Man, just because you're in love with her, doesn't mean that she picks out your clothes," Scott told Mike, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I told you, she picks out my clothes because- wait! Wait a minute, I do not love Emili. Well, not like that. She's like my sister," Michael said. "Would you want to date your sister?"

"Dude-" Evan started.

"I am not in love with her!" Michael shouted, paid for the clothes, and marched out the door.

Five minutes later, all the kids met back up with Storm at the entrance to the mall. Emili and Michael had looks of anger on their faces. "So, you kids have fun?" Storm asked.

Emili quickly changed her expression to a smile. "Yeah, I had a great time, Storm. Thanks for taking us." As soon as she passed Storm her face returned to that glare.

"What happened with her?" Scott asked motioning towards Emili.

Jean didn't even hesitate. "Those two are so going to get married."


	7. Emili's Thinking

Emili and Michael were still angry when they got back to the Institute. The entire car ride home they just stared at each other like they normally do. The other students thought it looked like they were trying to communicate with each other. That was ridiculous, of course. They knew that zapping people and possessing a Walkman are not related to telepathic abilities like tele-communicating. No, they had to be merely staring at each other, probably wondering why the other students could possibly think that they liked each other.

When the kids got home, Emili and Michael went straight into their rooms and put their new clothes into their new closets. Emili sat on her bed and stared at the closet, thinking. She never had a closet of her own before. Not since she was four, when her mom... Emili shook that thought away. But even when the two were adopted, they stayed in hotels all the time. Heck, their foster father didn't even have a house. Well, he might _now_, but he's... once again, Emili had to shake off those bad thoughts. She rubbed her face with her hands and laid back on the bed. Emili lay there, soaking in the comfort that the bed brought her. She had a hard life. With everything that's happened to her, she deserves this, doesn't she? She and Michael had been through so much together, so many horrible things, a bed and a safe place to live should have been served to them on a silver platter. They couldn't have asked for nicer people to be living with, either. Yeah, the thing with Mike was stupid and incorrect, but they were only kidding. They were actually being really nice to them. However, no matter how hard she tried to shake it off, Emili had a feeling that she and Mike should leave the Institute, before they were forced to run... again.


	8. Survival and Combat Training

As Emili was lost in her thoughts, Wolverine barged in loudly. Emili jumped. "Dude!" Emili yelled. "You scared the crap out of me!" Wolverine paid no attention to her yelling. He just threw a jumpsuit looking thing at her. It was navy blue with a yellow lightning bolt going down the left leg. He also gave her a pair of yellow boots. "More new clothes?" Emili asked. "No thanks, I prefer clothes that aren't so... lightning-y."

"Put them on and be outside in five minutes," Wolverine said gruffly as he left the room.

"Well aren't we the happy camper," Emili mused to herself. Emili changed into the suit. It was just her size, which was kind of scarey, considering that she didn't tell anyone her size. The boots fit perfectly too, and went right up to her knee. Emili looked at herself in the mirror. "It looks like Wonder Woman threw up on me," she said to herself. "All I need is a cape."

Emili left her room and walked towards the grand stair case. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Emili saw Michael in the same ridiculous navy jumpsuit, with a few changes. His right arm sleeve ended right below his elbow, allowing his cyborg arm to show and instead of having the lightning bolt on his leg, it was on his chest. His boots were also yellow, but more robotic looking. "I see you got one too," Mike said, looking at her.

"Yup," Emili replied. Then the two broke down laughing. "Oh my gosh, you look so stupid!" Emili giggled.

"Me?" Mike laughed. "It looks like Wonder Woman threw up on you. All you need-"

"Is the cape!" Emili finished. "They gave us practically the same thing to wear. Are we that alike?"

Mike took a deep breath to calm down. "I have no idea. I guess so." Mike's cyborg arm turned into a clock. "Come on," he said. "Let's go before Wolverine blows a gasket."

Outside, Michael and Emili saw the other students in navy blue jumpsuits like theirs, but each a bit different. Jean's had some green on the chest. Kitty's suit had some purple on it and a bit of a V-neck. Kurt had red boots and red shoulder-pad things. Evan's suit was boring- the navy blue with yellow boots and belt- but he had his spikes sticking out of it, so it looked a lot cooler. Scott, who was obviously the leader, had yellow boots and a big yellow X on his front and back. Emili tried her best not to laugh again.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Scott asked as the two approached the group.

"Ready for what?" Emili asked.

Her answer came walking up to her. Wolverine looked extremely tough in his navy blue shirt and camouflage cargo pants. "I," he growled to Michael and Emili, "am your survival and combat training instructor."

"Oh no," Emili said quietly.

"I teach you how to fight both with and without your powers," Wolverine continued. "You will learn how to survive out doors with no one to help you."

We've been homeless for three years. I think we know how to survive outdoors, Michael thought. Emili tried not to giggle.

"You will also learn how to survive in battle, against people of questionable character," Wolverine said. "No one likes it, but it has to be done." He turned to Emili and Michael. "We all have names that we call each other in battle. Evan is called Spike, Kitty is Shadowcat, Kurt is Nightcrawler, Jean is Jean Grey, and Scott is Cyclops. Emili, you will be Sparks, and Michael, you will be Cyborg.

We don't get to choose our own nick names? Emili thought.

As though he could read her thoughts, Wolverine turned to face Emili. "Come here."

"Oh no," Emili said again as she cautiously walked towards Wolverine. Emili did not like fighting. She hated the idea of hurting some one, whether they deserved it or not. It kept reminding Emili of her mother...

"A person wants to attack you," Wolverine said, breaking into her thoughts. "He is circling you, wanting to fight. What do you do?"

"Well," Emili answered, "I would try to talk him out of it, you know? Try to reason with him. He probably has a reason and we can discuss it rationally."

Wolverine stared at her. That was not the answer he expected. "No," he said. "You get ready to fight."

"Well, if we can reason with him, then there is no need to fight, and everyone is happy and not in pain," Emili retorted. Mike smiled. This was going to be interesting.

"This person could not be reasoned with!" Wolverine yelled. "What do you do?"

"I'd just walk away."

"You'd what?"

"It takes more strength to walk away from a fight than to actually participate in the fighting," Emili said.

Wolverine was getting very annoyed now. "What if as your walking away, your attacker tries to tackle you like this!" And with that he raced towards her.

"Eep!" Emili screeched as Wolverine was getting closer to her. When he was a foot away from her, Emili grabbed Wolverine's arm and flipped him like a martial artist. He landed on his back with all the air knocked out of him. All the students stared at Emili and Wolverine in shock. Emili's eyes grew wide as she realized what she had done. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" She ran over to him. ""I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! I was just scared and I wasn't thinking and oh my gosh!"

Wolverine stood up and approached Emili. Emili shrunk in fear as he walked closer to her. And then oddly, he smiled at her. Well, she thought it was a smile. His mouth was more curved than it normally was, though it might be some after affect of the flip. Emili tilted her head in confusion. "That," Wolverine said to the onlooking children, "is exactly what you should do when confronted with an enemy. Don't think. Use instincts alone." He turned to Emili who was still confused. "Where'd you learn that?"

"We once lived in an abandoned warehouse next to a karate dojo," Emili answered timidly. "I watched from the window."

"Good work," Wolverine said. An unfamiliar glow of pride swelled in Emili's chest. "Now everyone partner up. We'll be working on hand-to-hand fighting before dinner."

The class groaned.


	9. Wolverine Good Advice?

The rest of the weekend passed by normally. Emili and Michael seemed to fit in perfectly with the other students. They had such charisma, it was impossible not to like them. Emili quickly became the performer of the group. She was often found telling stories about Mike and herself. She was quite good too. She could draw in a watching crowd by exaggeratedly acting out the events. Each character Emili portrayed had a different voice and when she described them, you could see the person come to life before your eyes. Mike, on the other hand, was incredibly intelligent, especially for someone who has never gone to school before. He saw Kitty struggling with her Algebra homework on Sunday, and he instantly explained to her how to do the problem. He can be found, in those rare times when he was not with Emili, reading one of the classic books that filled one of the backpacks that the children had. He was currently reading _Robinson Crusoe, _but he had _Moby-Dick, The Jungle Book, _even _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer _and _Huckleberry Finn_ unabridged waiting in line.

Before Mike or Emili realized, it was Sunday night- the night before their first day of school. A wave of nerves went through them like never before. Every imaginable thing that could go wrong went through their minds. What if no one liked them? What if they were incredibly behind? What if they couldn't go to high school with the others because they never went to school before? Even though the professor ha assured them that he had taken care of it with the principal, that night when they went to bed, they were still uneasy.

Wolverine went downstairs at midnight. He was hungry, like he normally was this time of night. There was something different about tonight, though. He inhaled deeply. His animal senses told him that there was someone in the kitchen. Wolverine instantly went into stealth mode, allowing his metal claws to come out. Very carefully he crept outside the kitchen. Then, with a deep breath he pushed open the door. "Freeze!" he yelled to the figure raiding the refrigerator.

"Eep!" squealed a voice, dropping the gallon of juice. The person closed the fridge door. "Dude!" Emili yelled at Wolverine. "You have got to stop scaring me like that!" She walked over to the counter and got a towel to clean the floor with. "What are you doing down here anyway?" She said, wiping up the milk.

"Me?" Wolverine grumbled. "What are you doing down here, kid? You have school tomorrow."

Emili wrung out the towel. "I couldn't sleep," she confessed. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and began to eat it.

"Go to bed," Wolverine said as he looked for something to eat in the refrigerator. He shut the fridge holding that night's leftovers and noticed Emili was still there. "I said go to bed."

"I said I can't. I'm... nervous," she said embarrassed.

Wolverine sighed. He wasn't going to get out of this one. "Umm... why are you nervous?"

"I'm going to be all by myself on my very first day of school ever. Mike probably won't have one class with me, I'm gonna be ditched by the other kids-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Wolverine interrupted abruptly. "The kids are not going to ditch you. You guys are like family already."

Emili began to pace around the kitchen. "They were probably just making us feel better because they found us sleeping in that abandoned house."

"That's not true," Wolverine told her. He felt a little awkward. He normally did not play this role. He considered himself more of the "gruff uncle" type. "They like you." Wolverine looked at her cautiously. "Why do you think that they don't?"

Emili looked just as uncomfortable as Wolverine. "When Mike and I were four we were adopted by our foster father. He acted just like a real dad. Until, one day I realized he was just pretending. He never really cared about us. He was in trouble and used a couple of vulnerable mutant kids to help him out until we were eleven. Once he got what he needed, he ditched us. Seven years of love, out the window."

"So you think..."

"That everyone is like that. I know its not true, but when you love someone like a dad, and then it turns out that they don't care at all, a wall just appears over your emotions, you know? You can't let anyone into your thoughts or emotions." Emili stopped pacing and looked at him. "What am I thinking? Of course you don't."

Why did he have to get himself into this? He shifted feet. "Uh, fifteen years ago," he started awkwardly and slowly, "I woke up with all of my memory gone. No one liked me because I was a mutant. I hated everyone and everything. Then I met the professor. He talked to me, helped me out. He showed me that not everyone is worth hating, and some people are better than others. And trust me, these kids your going to school with on Monday are better than most."

Emili gave him a small smile. It was small, but filled to the brim with a new-found confidence. "Thanks," she said. "I'm gonna go to bed. Night." Then Emili went upstairs and fell into a nice, restful sleep.


	10. The First Class of the First Day

The next day, everyone in the Institute was going partly insane. Emili and Mike ran around the Institute trying to find their backpack or sneakers or sweatshirt. Everyone else, besides Wolverine who had his fill of helpfulness the night before, was running around trying to help find this missing item, or giving the two misfits pep talks to help them calm down. When there was about a half hour until school began and everything that needed to be found was found, everyone went downstairs to eat breakfast. Xavier looked at his two new pupils. Mike was wearing a red flannel shirt over a Rolling Stones band tee with a pair of baggy jeans and black converse. Emili also was wearing the "grunge" look with a The Who tee-shirt over a white thermal shirt with ripped jeans and similar shoes. A knit cap was on her head. Xavier smiled at the kids, though it seemed neither of them wanted to do any smiling. "Come on, kids," Xavier said. "You have to get to school early for your first day."

"Woo," Emili said halfheartedly. The group piled into the van. The five minute drive to school was silent. Emili and Mike weren't even staring at each other, just at their feet. Once at school, everyone got out, and Emili, Michael, and the professor set out for the principal's office.

"Kids," the professor introduced once in the principal's office, "this is Principal Darkholme."

Principal Darkholme stood up to shake hands with the children. She smiled very friendly at the children, but the professor knew it was all a facade. Principal Darkholme was really the mutant Mystique. She was an evil shape-shifter, who hated Professor Xavier and the rest of the students. In fact, she tries to get to the kids at the Xavier Institute and tries to get them to go with her and join the Brotherhood, a mean bunch of mutant kids that live in the outskirts of Bayville. However, the professor did not want to tell the students that; he was afraid that they weren't ready to handle it.

So when the principal said to Xavier, "Thank you professor. I think we can take it from here," she in no way let on her true identity to the two new students. "Now," she said, sitting back down, after Xavier had left, "the professor tells me that you two had never had any formal education before." She noticed their worried expressions. "It's okay; many children who go here have been previously home schooled. Its all been taken care of." Mike and Emili sighed in relief. Principal Darkholme handed them each a piece of paper. "Now, here are your schedules. You are both in regular classes at the moment, but if you find that those classes are too simple for you, we can see if there is any space open in our honors classes." She looked at her watch. "You two better get off to class, you're late as it is."

Emili and Michael smiled as they left the office. "Thank you," they said in unison.

In the hallway, Emili and Mike turned to compare schedules. "Okay, first block I have study hall."

"Seriously? I have History," Michael huffed. "Do we have any classes together?"

Emili skimmed both schedules. "Yeah," she said, relived. "We have computer class and lunch together."

Mike smiled. "Alright... cool. So I guess I'll, uh, see you then."

"Yeah, I guess." Walking away from each other felt weird. It was like losing a limb; its been there for so long, and now, its gone.

Mike walked down a hallway near the football field... again. He was hopelessly lost. He kept thinking about Emili. Did she find her class yet? Were they nice? Were they horrible? Mike ran his hand through his brown hair and looked out at the gym class running around the field.

"Oh man!" he heard behind him. There was a girl with books scattered around her feet as she clutched onto a model of the Alamo. She was short with curly blonde hair. Her eyes were a very pretty color, pure blue.

Mike walked over to her. "Do you need some help?" he asked.

She looked at him and blushed slightly. "Um, yeah, thanks."

Mike picked up her books for her. The girl tried to take them back, but Mike shook his head. "No, I got it."

She smiled. "Its nice to know that chivalry isn't dead, thanks. Are you new? I've never seen you around before."

"Yeah," Mike said walking next to her. "Today's my first day. I'm Michael."

"Ashley," she said. "What class do you have now?"

"I'm trying to find History, but I've been wandering the same hallway for about five minutes now."

"I have history now too," Ashley replied. "Its difficult to find. You have to go threw another classroom to find it." She smiled at him again. She had such pretty smile. It made Mike want to smile too. "It's right through this classroom."

Mike held the door open for her as she walked in. "Mike!" a voice called. Mike knew that German accent. It was Kurt! "You are in zis class? Awesome!" Mike looked around. Evan and Kitty were in this class too and they waved at him.

"Settle down, people," droned the teacher. He had a shiny bald spot and thick glasses. He had a bit of a potbelly that he tried to hide under his tweed. "You must be our new student. Class, this is Michael Burns. He is new, so I want you all to treat him like a human being. Mike," he said, turning to him, "I am Mr. Wietrako. Please, take a seat next to Miss Pryde."

"Yes sir," Mike said. He made a pit stop to Ashley's desk. "I believe these belong to you," he said.

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him again.

A big jock put his arm around her. Mike, as tall and strong as he was, looked like a mouse next to this guy. He he was over six feet tall and was pure muscle. Bolder-kid had black hair and brown eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and tough. "Yeah," he said, pulling Ashley close to him. "Thanks, pal."

Mike nodded and walked to his seat. _Of course she has a boy friend._

At the opposite end of the school, Emili wandered the halls. She was not lost, she knew exactly where her classroom was. However, she did not want to go inside the classroom, so lingered as long as possible. When she felt as though she could not avoid the room anymore, Emili walked into study hall. What she found was organized chaos. Chairs were turned into beds holding sleeping students. Jock-types were yelling and pushing each other, and throwing paper airplanes into the air. Girls were gossiping in a corner, and the teacher, a kind-looking red head, was reading a book. When Emili entered, everyone stopped and stared at her.

_Fantastic_, she thought dryly.

"Hello," the teacher chirped, standing up to shake Emili's hand. "I'm Ms. Trevlig. And you are..."

Emili found her voice and answered. "I'm Emili Day. I'm new."

Ms. Trevlig smiled at her. "Nice to meet you Emili. Please take a seat anywhere you wish. Study hall is like school authorized chaos."

Emili moved to the back of the room, eyes watching her as she went. Emili felt the jock-types, especially checking her out while her back was turned. She sat down next to the one kid who was not looking at her. He had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. His skin was tan, and he was dressed like a thug. Emili took out _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ and tried to read it, but found it impossible to concentrate with the eyes staring at her. Emili just stared at the book, and the class slowly turned into the insanity that it was before. Now, however, it was a little quieter, and the eyes kept over at her. She turned to the boy next to her and tried to make conversation. "So... is this class like this all the time?"

He looked over at her. "So you have permission to talk to me?" he said.

Emili was very confused. "Yes, why wouldn't I?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "You're an X-men, right?"

"A what-men?" Emili questioned.

"You go to the Xavier Institute?" he asked her.

"Yeah..."

"Then you're an X-men, the enemy," he said.

"I try not to be enemies with anybody," Emili said getting annoyed.

He rolled his eyes again.

Emili went back to staring at the book, fuming.

"Why were you trying to talk to me, anyway?" the boy asked her.

"Oh so now we're allowed to talk?"

"Just answer the question, princess," he said, crossing his arms.

"You were the only one not staring at me, and you _seemed_ nice. And don't call me princess," Emili retorted crossly.

The kid chuckled. "I look nice to you?"

"I've met a lot worse dressed a lot better," Emili said, truthfully.

He smiled at her. It was a sly, devil-may-care grin, but he did smile nonetheless. "Your not so bad." He stuck out his hand. "The name's Lance."

Emili shook it tentatively, a bit suspicious. "Emili," she said, introducing herself. "So why are we supposed to hate each other?"

Lance shrugged. "Its this whole big song and dance. You guys said something that pissed us off, we did something to piss you off, that kept going until we just got to fighting all the time."

Emili wrinkled her nose. "I don't like fighting."

Lance shook his head and smiled. "So, why did you go to the Institute? Your folks flip when they found out you were a mutant?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Emili said quietly. "Mutant? Who's a mutant? Not this girl. Uh-uh, no way Jose, not me, no," Emili said, shaking her head.

"Relax, I'm a mutant too," Lance said holding up his hands. "Now tell me your story."

Emili looked down, having a mental debate whether or not to tell him. It was weird, but Emili felt like there was some... warmth in him, or something, and she wanted to trust him. She decided to tell him what she and Mike were telling everyone else. "I don't have any parents," she confessed. "The 'X-men' or whatever you called them found me and my friend Mike living in an abandoned house in the woods. We pretty much came for the hot food and free bed." Emili looked at him. "Don't you dare tell anyone. Pinky-swear to me you won't tell."

"No," Lance said, looking around. Pinky-swearing would apparently bruise his ego. Emili gave him a death glare. Lance looked around again and then quickly pinky-swore with Emili. "I know what it's like, you know, not having any 'rents. The Brotherhood, they're like the anti- X-men,"he explained at Emili's quizzical look, "they picked me up while I was living in a foster home. So if you ever need to talk, you've got me."

Emili looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Personality switch, much?"

Lance shrugged. "Hey, I got myself a reputation to keep up." Just then, the bell rang loudly, making Emili jump. "Hey, what's your next class?" Lance said, standing up.

"Uh... English," Emili said, looking at her schedule.

"I have Wood Shop across the hall. I'll walk you," Lance said, leading the way.

Emili smiled. "Thanks," she said, catching up to him. The weight that was in her chest since she woke up this morning vanished. She actually made a friend.


	11. Friends

Emili was smiling as she left English. She was glad that she didn't have to find another friend in that class, since Kurt was in the class with her. In fact, as they were comparing their schedules, the two found out that they were each other's classes for the rest of the day. That made Emili feel all warm inside, but she didn't know why. Emili just assumed that she was glad that she wouldn't be by herself for the remainder of the school day. Emili was also smiling because it was time for lunch, and that means she would finally be able to see Mike again.

Emili and Kurt got their lunches and Kurt lead the way to the table outside where the other kids at the Institute were already seated. "Mike!" Emili yelled and ran over to the table. Mike stood up at the table and gave her a hug. "How was it?" she asked.

"It was... good, very good," Mike said, thinking and nodding at the same time.

Emili gave him a look. "What's her name?"

"Ashley. She's so nice and cute and smart, but she has this huge boyfriend," Mike told her, frowning.

Emili gave him a questioning look. "How huge is huge? You're pretty large yourself."

"I look like a four -year-old next to him, Em."

"Oh crap," Emili told him.

The others were giving them a weird look. "So Emili," Scott said. "How's your first day going? I hear that you were by yourself first period."

"That was pretty bad, yeah," Emili told the group, "but it got better. I actually made a friend. Oh, there he is." Emili waved across the courtyard to Lance. He gave her a sup nod in response.

Evan choked on his water. "Your 'new friend' is Lance Alvers?"

Mike and Emili shared puzzled looks. "Is there a problem with him?" Mike asked.

"Problem?" Scott asked. "Problem? That kid is a walking problem. The first day we met he tried to use Kitty to steal test answers. Lance is a no-good punk, a juvenile delinquent. He steals things!"

"Oh boo hoo," Emili said. Everyone stared at her. "We've all stolen things. Lord knows Mike and I have stolen more than you could believe. Ow!" Emili responded to Mike elbowing her in the side.

"Yeah, cause you had to steal things to like, live and stuff," Kitty told her.

"Listen Emili, its great that you always try to see the good-side in people, but trust me, you have to leave Lance alone," Jean said with Kitty nodding in encouragement.

"Ja," Kurt said. A protective gleam shown in his eyes as he looked at Emili. "Ve just don't vant you to get in trouble for something you didn't do because of him."

"Emili," Scott said. "Please don't continue your friendship with Lance or anyone from the Brotherhood for that matter. After lunch, break it off, please?"

"God, you'd think I'm dating Jack the Ripper," Emili huffed. Everyone but Mike looked at her pleadingly. "Fine,whatever."

Everyone at the table exhaled a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the courtyard, Lance and the rest of the Brotherhood were busy eating and trying to look like hoodlums. There were four others in the Brotherhood besides Lance: Toad, a slightly green, dirty boy with green tinged skin who had toad-like abilities; Blob, a huge, stupid boy with blonde hair and the power of strength; Pietro, or Quicksilver, who had a silver-y gleam to him and had super speed; and Rouge, a goth girl from Mississippi who had the ability to steal other mutant's powers and human's energy from a single touch. He ate some of his sandwich when Toad hopped over to him.

"Hey, um, Lance," Toad said, using his long, toad-like tongue to grab his own sandwich. "Who was that chick you nodded to?"

"Her name's Emili," Lance said, not looking at him. "She's new."

"Yeah but uh, Lance," Toad continued. "She's an X-men."

"You're point being..." Lance asked.

"Our point being," Pietro said, walking smugly towards him, "that she is the enemy. Since when are we friends with the enemy?"

Lance snarled his lip. He hated Pietro. He was smug, stuck up, and arrogant, and he acted as though he was better then all of them. "Trust me man," Lance said defensively. "She ain't like them. She's cool. You should have seen her in Study Hall."

"I think you like her!" Blob dumbly announced.

"I do not like her you idiot," Lance answered shortly. "I've got my eye on someone else." Lance looked at Kitty across the courtyard and his heartbeat went a little faster. Emili looked up at him from her conversation and followed his glance back towards Kitty. She quickly gave him a puzzling look and her friend, a tall strong guy looked up at him with the same expression.

"I think its a good idea for Lance and Emili to be friends," Rouge spoke up, her southern accent as strong as ever. "I mean, it would help, like, avoid fights and stuff."

"Rouge we have to fight them," Quicksilver replied. "We have to show them that we are better. Lance, you cannot be friends with this chick."

All at once, all the guys were telling Lance to break his friendship with Emili. "Ugh fine! Whatever!" Lance yelled, causing some people to look at him. "I'll tell her after lunch."

"Yeah, Lance! Good choice!" Blob cheered merrily, slapping Lance on the shoulder. Lance fell out of his chair. Blob was as strong as he was fat.

"Yeah whatever," Lance said, finishing his sandwich.

Lunch soon ended with everyone off to their next class. Emili and Lance walked up to each other in the middle of the courtyard. Mike was by Emili's side, since they had computer class together this period. "Hey," Emili said to Lance as he walked up. He repeated the greeting. "This is my foster brother/ best friend Michael."

The two boys shook hands. "So Emili, I was talking with the Brotherhood during lunch, and I got something to tell you."

Emili nodded. "Me too," she said.

"Well," Lance said. "They don't think we should be friends."

"Yeah, the X-men want the same thing," Emili said, shaking her head.

"So what should we do?" Lance asked.

Emili and Michael looked at each other. "Me and Mike were discussing it, and we feel we came up with a suitable plan."

"And what is that?"

"I was planning on being friends in the privacy of first period and let them think that we aren't friends. I would just completely ignore them, but I don't think I could stand another stupid lecture," Emili concluded.

Lance stood there and smiled. He turned to Mike. "And you approve of this?"

Mike smiled back. "Emili was telling me about you. You remind me of some of my street friends- no offense."

Lance smiled, and the two boys fist bumped. "None taken, man."

"Now," Emili said, interrupting their bro-manse, "on to more pressing issues." She turned to Lance. "You like Kitty?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Shut up."


	12. Jealousy

Computer class was a breeze. Emili and Michael were great with computers; not very surprising, considering Mike is half computer himself and if Emili ever has any computer problems all she has to do is possess the computer to make it do what she wants it to. After the class was over, Mike and Emili hugged and went off to their different classes.

Kurt and Emili walked together to their next class, Algebra. Emili was really nervous again. Emili wasn't very good at math; she got a headache just thinking about math problems. She was sure that she was going to be terribly behind. She voiced her thoughts to Kurt. "I am so going to fail this class!" she told him, running her hand through her hair with frustration.

"You have to think on think on the bright side, Emili," Kurt told her, smiling.

"But Kurt what happens if I-" Emili said looking at Kurt, but then she crashed into something. Well, more like someone. Emili had walked straight into a boy heading in the opposite direction. He wasn't very tall, but he had muscles in all the right places. He had shaggy, dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes. His jeans were ripped like a grunge rocker but he wore a Letterman jacket like a jock. The boy and Emili both dropped their stuff, and Emili dove to the ground to help him pick up his things, with Kurt following her lead.

"Hey, what do think you're doing?" the boy asked looking down at Emili angrily.

"I am so sorry!" Emili exclaimed, looking up. The boy's expression immediately softened when he saw her face. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and I-" Emili continued.

"Hey, hey," the boy said coolly. He bent down to help Emili and Kurt pick up the dropped books. "Don't worry about it, okay? We all make mistakes." They stood up with books in hand. "You got a name, kid?" the boy asked her charmingly.

Emili smiled bashfully. "Emili, I'm new," she said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Luke," he said, reaching out to shake Emili's hand. "So where you off to, Emili-the-new-kid?"

"Algebra. My friend Kurt is walking me to class," Emili presented Kurt to Luke, who nodded at Kurt and put his attention right back on Emili.

"Algebra, eh? I guess I'll be seeing you in class then." Luke then turned into the classroom right next door and took a seat in the back.

Kurt glared at Luke through the closing doors. Then he turned to Emili and handed her the books that he picked up.

"Thanks Kurt," Emili said, taking the books from him, staring at the door. "Who was he?"

"Zat's Luke Barrowmen. He's the football team quarterback," Kurt told her, expecting her to fawn over him. Instead she wrinkled her nose.

"I highly dislike football," Emili told him. "Too confusing. Too violent."

That made Kurt happy. "Come on," he said, trying to hide it. "We should get to class. The bell's going to ring."

Kurt and Emili walked into class just as the bell rang. The teacher looked at the new student and raised a bushy eyebrow. He was short, only an inch taller than Emili, with a mean face. "You're one of the new ones, correct?" he said, walking towards her with his arms folded.

A wave of nausea hit Emili. She took and deep breath and said, "Yes sir. My name is Emili Day."

"I am Mr. Hamis," he said. "We have an open seat for you in the back next to Mr. Barrowmen."

Emili looked and saw Luke in the back row, smiling at her. The nausea left and butterflies took its place.

"Um sir?" Kurt asked. "I thought Emili vould be more comfortable sitting next to me, since ve know each other and all."

"Well it's too bad you're not the teacher then Mr. Wagner. Take your seats," Mr. Hamis ordered.

Emili worked her way past the desks and the stares to her seat in the back row where Luke was still smiling at her. "Hey," Luke said. "Welcome to hell."

Emili's eyes grew wide. "Is it that bad?"

"You've never had a really horrible teacher before?" Luke asked her.

Emili shook her head. "I've been home schooled all my life."

"I see. Well, Mr. Hamis over there," Luke said pointing at the teacher who was scribbling problems on the board, "is Satan, in human form." Emili gulped in fright. "Don't worry new kid. I'll protect you." Emili looked down and blushed. "Have I seen you before?" Luke asked.

Emili's blush disappeared and instead she grew pale. "Um, I don't think so. Why?" she replied nervously.

"I know where I've seen you before. You're in study hall with me," Luke told her. Emili let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah," Luke said, "You were talking to the J.V. Lance."

Emili got annoyed and told Luke, "Lance is really nice. You just have to talk to him, you know? Get to know him."

"Ms. Day," a mean voice called out. Emili looked up to find Mr. Hamis glaring at her. "This is your first day so I'm going to let you off with a warning, but next time I find you talking in my class, it is going to be a detention."

Emili went back to taking notes, embarrassed. Luke moved closer to her and whispered, "Hey don't worry about the old windbag. I got your back, remember?"

Emili smiled, but whispered, "We should get back to our notes."

From across the classroom, Kurt was glaring at Luke and Emili. Luke was obviously flirting with her, and Emili was totally taking the bait. Luke Barrowmen was the ultimate lady-killer, while Kurt was the German exchange student. Kurt felt something stir inside him. It was a feeling that he had never felt before: it was jealousy.


	13. Band Room Jam

"So how vas your first day?" Kurt asked Emili as they walked out of Spanish, which was right after Algebra and, to the joy of Kurt, without Luke. Emili found it ridiculous that she had to take a language class; she was fluent in Spanish after all. She couldn't seem to find the point, but she comforted herself knowing that this class was going to be an easy A.

"Not bad," Emili replied, trying to get this taste out of her mouth. "Hey, do we is there juice back at the Institute?"

"Ummm. . . I think ve do. Vat kind?" Kurt asked her.

"Apple, or grape, or anything else with a high sugar content," Emili replied. Kurt laughed as they continued to walk down the hall together. Emili had a warm feeling in her chest. Kurt was so nice and fun to talk with. Emili could sit and talk with him for hours and hours. That was, until she saw the room. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is this?" Emili asked Kurt.

"It's the band room," Kurt told her a little confused. "Vat's so great about it?" Kurt asked in reply, but Emili was already in the room but then. She was looking around in wide-eyed wonder, marveling in all the instruments. Then Emili gasped excitedly, and hurried over to a guitar.

"She's beautiful," Emili gasped, picking up the guitar.

"Umm, Emili, I don't think ve're allowed to touch the instruments," Kurt said hesitantly. He did not want detention for something as simple as touching a guitar.

But Emili ignored him. She just picked up the guitar and began playing. Emili was a fantastic guitar player. It was so moving. Her face had such a concentrating look on her face, like she really cared about the music. Kurt remembered what she said the day they met. . . _I taught myself how to play guitar when I was eight._ Wow. How can Emili play that well and never get any professional training?

Then Emili began to sing. "_Imagine there's no heaven. Its easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people, living for today. Ah ah ahahah." _Kurt was astonished. Emili's singing voice was fantastic. Her voice was so soulful. She felt every word she was saying. "_Imagine all the people, living life in peace You-hoohoohoo. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one._"

Scott walked into the band room, followed by the rest of the Institute kids. "Told you she'd be here," Mike said to Scott, then sat on the floor and listened to Emili play.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Scott asked. "We've been-"

"Shhh!" Kurt said interrupting him. He pointed to Emili, who was still singing and playing, and turned back to listen again. Scott and the others heard, then began listening as well.

"_You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only on," _Emili continued singing_. I hope some day you'll join us and the world will live as one."_

"Vow," Kurt said as Emili finished up the song. "That vas fantastic."

"You really liked it?" Emili asked bashfully.

"Uh, yeah," Evan said. "You're amazing."

Emili looked down bashfully. "See guy," Mike said, getting up and walking towards Emili. "I told you she was great."

"Great?" a voice said behind them. Emili looked to see Ms. Trevlig smiling at her. "More like unbelievably brilliant. John Lennon himself couldn't have done better." Emili blushed bright red. "You have to join band. And the school chorus. You'd be great at it."

"I don't know," Emili said humbly. Michael gave her a look, and the Emili gave him a look. After this look- off Emili sighed and said, "Sure. Why not?"

Ms. Trevlig was ecstatic. "Yay! Emili, you will have so much fun I promise."

"What did I get myself into?" Emili asked herself, shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it," Jean said. "You'll do fine."

Mike put her arm around her shoulder and said, "Yeah Day, you'll be great. Now you look like you could use some juice."

That weird taste got back in Emili's mouth.


	14. Quite Quiet

Professor Xavier waited anxiously for the children to get home from school. He remembered how nervous Michael and Emili were about school, and he wanted to make sure that there school day went well. When the professor finally saw the kids walk to the front door, he started to become nervous, however, the two ran inside, as happy any of the other kids. They zoomed right past him before he could say a word. "Michael! Emili!" Xavier called to them. The children stopped running and walked back to the professor. "I wanted to know how your day at school went."

"It was great professor," Emili told him. "I made some friends, was recruited to the school band and choir, and didn't throw up. On the down side, a teacher already doesn't like me, but you know, you can't win them all. Do we have any juice?"

The professor was a bit confused. "Any. . . what?"

"Juice," Emili replied, still trying to get that taste out of her mouth. "Preferably with a high sugar content."

"I think we have some apple juice in the fridge," Xavier said, confused.

Emili smiled at him. "Thank you Professor!" Then she ran into the kitchen to pour herself some juice."

Michael smiled and shook his head as she ran. "How was your day Michael?" the professor asked him.

Mike nodded. "Not bad, Professor."

"You never have much to say, do you Michael?" Professor Xavier asked him. He noticed Michael only really talks when he has to, and when he has too, he says as little as possible.

Mike shrugged. "I guess. Emili's just a lot better with people than I am."

"How did you two become so close then, if you aren't 'good with people'?" Xavier asked him.

"We were the only two mutants in the foster home," Mike said, like it explained it all. Which it did. To many humans, mutants were looked upon like an infectious disease. Ungodly things that don't belong on the Earth. Many mutants hid there powers from the world. They feared to be hated, feared that everything they loved will be destroyed or leave them. And to be a teenager, with raging hormones on top of all this, all this hate? Disastrous. That's why the students in the Institute are human to the outside world. Because all that hate could have destroyed them. Professor Xavier commended Michael and Emili on being so strong and proud. It seemed as though being mutants did not have any affect on them.

"Yo, Michelangelo!" Emili yelled, walking out of the kitchen with a huge glass of juice in hand. Michael sighed and turned to look at her. He hated when she called him Michelangelo. "Let's start our first piece of homework ever. I hear homework's hell." The professor gave her a look. "Sorry, Professor," Emili said sheepishly.

"Nice talking to you, Professor," Michael said, and ran off to his partner in crime.

The professor smiled at the two of them. Just then, Jean and Scott walked in. After the usual "How was your day at school?" the professor asked how Michael and Emili did at school. "Emili told me she made new friends. I'm so happy for her." Scott and Jean gave each other a look that worried the professor. "What? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Um. . . Emili made a friend alright," Jean said.

"With Lance Alvers," Scott said, lip curling. Scott had a problem with Lance. Scott was the leader of the X-men. Lance lead the Brotherhood. The two groups of mutants were rivals, with the two leaders constantly at each other's throats. "We warned her about him, but Emili seems like the kind of person to disregard our warning."

The professor looked at the two of them. "Well, its not my preferred choice in friends, but this could end up being a good thing." Scott and Jean looked at the professor like he had two heads. "Every seems to be attracted to Emili's upbeat energy. She might just be the person we need to be our ambassador, to stop this fighting."

Scott didn't say anything, but inside, he was fuming. How could the professor say that? The Brotherhood went against everything the X-men believed in.

"Yes Scott, we might disagree with the Brotherhood in many ways, but we have to work together if we are going to stop the hatred of mutants," Xavier told his student.

Scott nodded and walked away, still angry. He hated when the professor read his mind.


	15. Secrets

"Emili, you have to concentrate!" Michael yelled, trying to get Emili to work on her homework. Emili's room didn't have many distractions, but it was still difficult for her to concentrate. Besides, Emili was trying to work on her Algebra homework. Her hate of both the teacher and the subject itself made Emili very against the homework.

"I don't really see why I have to do this," Emili complained, glaring at her homework. "I'm never going to have to know this in real life."

"What if you have to do your taxes or something?" Michael argued.

"Mike, I think we both know that your going to be the one doing our taxes," Emili told him.

"Thanks," Mike said, and zapped Emili a little. They do this all the time. Normal friends shove each other gently, Emili and Michael used their powers to zap each other, or to make something they need float away.

Emili took a sip of her juice and turned back to Michael. "Mike, I'm right brained. I'm all creative and arts-y and all that jazz. I am not a math person."

"Do you know what your problem is Emili?" Michael asked her.

"That I don't try?" Emili suggested.

"That you don't- hey!" Mike yelled. Emili stuck her tongue out at him and he zapped her again. Emili laughed and picked up her pencil again. "Now will you please try again?"

"Ugh," Emili said, but she went back to her homework anyway.

Just then, Evan walked in. "Wow, it sure is quiet in here." Emili and Mike looked at each other, then looked back to Evan with a sly smile on their faces. "Wolverine told me to tell you two suit up. We have survival and combat training."

"Ugh," Emili said again.

"I don't think 'Ugh' is going to be a good excuse, Emili," Evan said. "He wants you guys outside in ten minutes."

Mike raised his eyebrows and followed Evan out of the room. "See you in ten," he said.

Ten minutes later, all the students were suited up and outside, waiting for Wolverine to begin the lesson. Wolverine appeared in the same outfit he wore Michael and Emili's first class. "We are going to be continuing our lesson on hand to hand fighting. I'm going to call you up two at a time and you are going to spar. Who knows what that means?"

Mike knew, but he kept quiet. However, when Wolverine started looking super pissed he spoke up, speaking loudly enough for Wolverine to hear. "Fighting with enough rules in place to make getting hurt unlikely."

Wolverine turned to face him. "Correct." Mike let out a sigh of relief. "Now, when it is your turn to spar you will come up, put on a pair of gloves and headgear, and move to the center of the circle. You will **not** fight until I say so and you will **not** use your powers. Understood?" The class nodded. "Good. First two up: Nightcrawler and Shadowcat." Kurt and Kitty went up and put on the safety gear. "Get into your fighting stance. Now one, two, three: fight!" Kitty and Kurt began to circle each other. Suddenly, Kitty swiped Kurt's leg. Kurt jumped to avoid it. In response, he punched at Kitty's stomach, but she blocked his arm and mimicked his punch. Kurt grabbed Kitty's arm and then flipped her onto her back, like what Emili did to Wolverine last class. Then he held his fist inches from her face, which signaled the fight was over. The two stood up and looked at Wolverine, who merely said, "Wrong. Cyborg and Sparks, your up."

"What?" Kitty asked. "How was it wrong?"

Wolverine just ignored her. "Cyborg, Sparks, I said you were up."

As Michael and Emili began putting on their safety gear, Emili told Michael, "This is so unfair. You're, like, a foot taller than me."

"Yeah," Mike said, "but you've got experience."

"What experience?" Emili replied. "I watched kids learn karate through a window. That's not getting experience, it's stalking."

"Get a move on you two!" Wolverine yelled. "We don't got all day." Mike and Emili moved to the center of the circle. "Fighting stance. One, two, three: fight!" Mike and Emili circled each other, and circled each other, _and_ circled each other. Not one of them threw a punch, but remained in their fighting stance the entire time. "Excuse me," Wolverine said, "but I do believe this is survival and **combat** class, not circle each other for twenty minutes class. Now will you two please get going?"

"I don't want to hit him!" Emili yelled. "I don't want to hit anyone actually." All of a sudden, Emili was hit in the head. Emili looked up, and saw Michael looming over her. "Dude?"

Mike winked. "Play along." Emili gave the smallest smile and "swept" at his feet. Mike avoided her kick and he jumped away. Emili quickly got up and went back into fighting position. She started a hail storm of fake roundhouse kicks and front kicks, each and everyone Mike blocked. Mike then "punched" her in the stomach, and she went to her knees, pretending all the air was gone. This fake fight was over.

Wolverine just stared at the two of them. Then he said, "Correct."

Emili looked at him, shocked. "Really?" This couldn't be right. Mike and Emili just put on a little show that they learned from a free stage fighting class. Kurt and Kitty actually fought. Surely Wolverine would know the difference, right?

"They did the one thing that Kitty and Kurt didn't do," Wolverine said.

_What's that? Pretend? _Michael thought.

"They kept their _hands up_," Wolverine said.

"Are you serious?" Kitty asked, slightly pissed off. Emili had her back on this one. What a stupid way to pass or fail someone.

"You very easily could have gotten punched in the face," Wolverine growled. "You would have been disoriented, then you could have been killed." He nodded at Emili and Michael. "Good job you two. Class dismissed."

Emili was still pondering this absurdity when the entire class walked up to her. "I can't believe it. He actually likes you," Evan told Emili.

"What? No way," Emili said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yes way," Jean retorted. "Ever since you flipped him the other day Wolverine's had a soft spot for you."

Emili still didn't believe it. "This is absurd. Listen, last night, I told Wolverine about my foster father. He probably felt bad for us and let us off easy. This time tomorrow, Wolverine is going to go back to barely putting up with everyone equally. Trust me."

Everyone walked off, murmuring that it wasn't going to happen. Mike however, turned to face Emili, his eyes nervous and angry. "How much did you tell him, Em?"

"Nothing, you know, important," Emili replied.

"Emili," Mike said, grabbing her shoulders, "what did you say?"

"I just told him what a jerk or foster dad was, that's all. That he used us. I didn't say how, I swear!" Emili said, getting angry back. Mike let out a sigh. "I wouldn't tell him our secret, Michael! I'm smarter than that."

Michael sighed again. "I know you are. I just-"

"I know," Emili said, letting out a sigh as well. Then the two just stood in the field and hugged.


	16. Threats and Flirting Before First Period

"Mike!"

"Oh, hi, Ashley," Michael said timidly to the very attractive girl walking towards him. It was the next morning and the kids were back at school. This morning was better, but Mike couldn't help the pang of nervousness that still sat in his gut. Emili didn't seem nervous at all. In fact, as they were sitting in the courtyard, waiting for the first bell to ring, Emili seemed her normal self. Mike only felt more nervous as Ashley walked towards him, with that smile brightening her face. Mike gave a slight smile back.

Emili looked at him wide-eyed and with raised eyebrows. "She's pretty!" Emili told him.

Michael glared at her. "Shut. Up."

Emili smiled ruefully as Ashley reached them. She was holding her History textbook. "Hey Mike," she said. She turned to Emili, who noticed Ashley's smile dim a tiny bit. "Who's this?"

Michael stammered as he tripped over his words. "This, this is, uh, this is,"

"Emili," Emili smiled at her in a friendly way and held out her hand, "with an 'i' no 'y'. I'm his sister." Ashley shook her hand, but it was more than a little obvious that Ashley didn't believe they were siblings. Emili wouldn't either in her position. Emili was bright-eyed, blonde, and bubbly, while Michael was brown-eyed, brunette, and quiet as a mouse. The two were siblings, only siblings in spirit. Emili saw that she wasn't helping Michael's hopes at a relationship, and said, "I'm going to go ask Kurt about the Algebra homework. See you at lunch." Then she got up and walked over to Kurt across the courtyard.

"So," Ashley said, taking Emili's seat on the bench, "you never told me you had a sister."

Mike ran his hand through his spiked hair. "I guess I was too busy concentrating on finding the History classroom. Yeah, Emili's my foster sister."

"Foster sister," Ashley said. "That makes more sense." Mike simply shrugged with a half smile on his face. "So," she said, "I just came over to say that if you need help catching up in History, I'm happy to help."

"Thanks, Ashley, but I-I think I'm good," Mike stammered a bit. Ashley nodded her head and began to get up. "But," Mike said, stopping Ashley in her tracks. "you know, it's only my second day. There's plenty of time for me to still get confused. If I do need help I'll make sure I give you call."

Just then, a blacked-haired bolder walked towards the two of them. _Oh no,_ Michael thought. _Here comes the boyfriend._

"Hey Ash," the block said, putting his arm around her. Mike would have wondered how he didn't crush her, but he was too busy worrying about the glare he was receiving.

"Oh!" Ashley said, noticing the tension. "Mike, this is my boyfriend, Daniel Parker. Dan, this is Mike Burns, he's new. You saw him in History yesterday."

Daniel nodded his head. "Right, nice to meet you," he said sticking out his hand.

Mike took it, and his hand was crushed. Disregarding the pain in his hand, Michael counted his lucky stars that it was not his mutant hand Dan was "shaking." If it was, Mike would not only have a dented hand, but his secret about being a mutant would be out. After all, the holographic image inducer didn't hide the cool of the metal that Michael's hand was truly made of. Mike just simply ignored the pain and said, "Likewise."

Just then, the bell rang. "Oh, I promised Becky my History notes before first period," Ashley said. "I have to go. See you guys in History." Then she kissed Daniel and ran towards the gaggle of girls surrounding the front of the school.

Daniel smiled after her, but when she was out of sight Daniel whipped his to face Michael, and his face became a glare. "Listen New Kid," Dan said, poking Michael hard in the chest. "Ashley's my girl, you got me?" Michael nodded his head nervously. "You stay away from her, you hear? Or I will personally make sure you are in pain. **A lot ** of pain. Do we understand each other?" Michael nodded again, even more nervously than before. "God Burns," Dan said, pushing Mike, "for such a strong looking guy, you sure are a wimp." Then her walked towards the school building.

Mike just stood there, watching Daniel walk away. Then he shook his head and said to himself, "Not only does she have a boy friend, but she has a homicidal boyfriend. Why does this only happen to me?"


	17. Kris and Chris

"Emili, Mike, vait up!" Kurt called after the two after school. "Vhere are you guys going? Scott's car is back zat vay."

"Mike and I were going to walk back to the Institute," Emili explained. "Want to tag along?"

"Zee Institute is over a mile avay," Kurt argued, but followed the two nonetheless.

Emili looked at him and smiled. "So? Walking is so freeing. There's nothing standing between you and nature."

"That, and we couldn't really afford many other means of travel," Mike said.

"That too," Emili agreed, "but walking is still my favorite way to get around. That, and riding the wire.".

"Riding zee vire?" Kurt asked, confused. "Vhat's 'riding zee vire'?"

"Ohmygosh, Kurt, it's so much fun," Emili said excitedly, jumping nearly a foot in the air with joy. "Remember that thing I did with Evan's Walkman? Well, me, Mike and our foster father figured out that if I could do that with just a regular thing with wires, why couldn't I possess a wire, and use that wire to travel to some place with that wire. Like, I touch an outlet at the Institute, let's say, then I can ride anywhere that is connected to electricity, like the school. I can even go to New Orleans, or Alaska or anywhere! Kurt, I have to take you sometime. You get this tingle-y feeling in your stomach and it's so much fun."

Kurt looked at Mike. "You didn't understand a word of that, did you?" he asked. Kurt nodded. "Yeah, it's one of those 'you have to experience it' things. Plus, Emili couldn't explain how to sharpen a pencil, let alone a very complicated scientific endeavor."

"Jerk," Emili said, giggling.

"So, how long have you been 'riding zee vire'?" Kurt asked Emili.

"Since I was five," she answered.

"Since you vere five?" Kurt asked amazed. "You've been a mutant since you vere five?"

"We've been mutants since we were four," Michael explained. "Why? You look shocked."

"Vell, most people become mutants vhen zey are teenagers. You guys mutated ten years before most ozer mutants."

"So we're extra different," Emili said wryly.

"Em, you would be extra different if you weren't a mutant," Mike said with a smile.

"_Michael, how many times have I told you not to be rude to my girlfriend_?" a creepy voice called out.

Kurt looked around. "Vhat vas zat?" he asked, trying to figure out who called Emili his "girlfriend". He turned to see Michael and Emili frozen in place, looking scared and angry at the same time. "Mike, Emili, who is zat?"

Kurt got his answer when two people, a boy and a girl, walked up to them. They looked exactly alike: the same height, the same brown hair, the same brown eyes. They also had the same expressions: a mixture of protective and angry.

"Kurt," Emili said dryly, "I would like for you to meet Christopher and Kristine Wells. Kristine is the lunatic who threw my guitar off of a roof."

"The only reason I did that was because you were flirting with my boyfriend," Kristine said meanly.

Kurt instantly disliked Kristine. She sounds like a jerk, and there is no way Emili would flirt with someone's boyfriend. Michael and Emili must not like her either, because Emili's nostril's flared and Michael looked like he wanted to drive his head through a wall.

"Kristine," Michael said, as sweetly as he could muster, "I've told you a thousand times: I'm not your boyfriend. We haven't dated in years."

"That's because you have that tramp trying to keep you away from me," she retorted, glaring at Emili.

Emili looked ready to drop her pacifist ways and punch Kristine in the face. Christopher turned to his sister and said, "Kris, that's my girlfriend you're bad mouthing, okay? Quit it. And Emili, darling, please try to refrain from calling my sister a lunatic. She, after all, is my twin sister, and she's the best friend I have."

"Christopher, we are not going out," Emili yelled. "We've been broken up for two years, remember? The two of us broke up with the two of you because you're both crazy!"

"Excuse me, skank?" Kristine yelled.

Now Kurt was getting really angry. "Excuse me, but if we don't get back to zee Institute soon zee three us vill get in trouble."  
Kristine and Christopher turned to look at Kurt sharply, as though noticing him for the first time. Christopher, especially, glared at him. "Who's this?" he asked angrily.

"Good Lord, not again," Emili whispered.

"I'm Kurt, Emili and Michael's friend," he said.

Christopher glared at him, but spoke to Emili. "Honestly, Emili, you're cheating on me with this German weirdo? I thought that it couldn't get any worse when you started cheating on me with Burns. Now I find out that I have to compete with some strange German kid! Geez, Emili I thought you were better than that."

Kristine crossed her arms and glared at Emili. "It doesn't surprise me," she said. "She's such a stupid skank, it doesn't surprise me at all. That girl would date a regular _human_ just to get under you skin."

Emili tried to calm Christopher down. "Christopher, listen-"

"Can Kurt do this, Emili?" Christopher said as he duplicated himself. "Can he?" The boy wouldn't stop, and soon, Kristine started to duplicate herself too. "What can Kurt do? Nothing, because he's a German-"

"ENOUGH!" Emili yelled. Everyone stared at her, shocked. Even Michael was surprised. Though in no means quiet, Emili had never yelled before. Her range of emotions included happy and anxious, and Mike had been through her one bout of depression. Anger, though, was something that no one had seen coming. "Listen," she growled, poking Christopher in the chest, breaking another barrier of her's, "We _are not _going out. We haven't been going out for over _two years_ and I don't want some obsessive lunatic following me around anymore. Michael and I have real lives now, and today, my new life produced a bad day. I have two months work of homework, an Algebra test tomorrow, and band and chorus practice on top of all that. The last thing I need is you too showing up and following us around again. So _give us some space. _Now."

Then Emili barged through Kristine and Christopher. Kurt and Michael looked at each other, back to Emili, then quickly followed the girl. They caught up with her as she stopped to take her breath against a tree. As they came up to her, Emili smiled bashfully at Michael. "Remind me next time that yelling makes me dizzy."

Kurt felt awkward by the entire situation. "Vell . . . I guess vee should have taken Scott's ride after all."

Michael just looked at him, Emili shook her said, saying, "Trust us, Kurt, they would have showed up at the Institute in the middle of the night if they thought that would help them get us alone."

"They're crazy, man," Mike, just shaking his head.

Kurt was shocked that Michael and Emili, two nice, mostly normal kids, knew two loonies like Kristine and Christopher. "Vhat is vith those guys. How did you guys even meet?"

Mike looked around then said, "Let's walk and talk. Don't want then to come back."

As they began walking, Emili began the story. "It started two years ago, a year after Michael and I began living on the streets. We were, Mike where were we?"

"California. Em, their parents are directors," Michael explained.

"Whatever, anyway, Mike and I were just roaming around the city -L.A. right?- eating some sandwiches we got at the local deli. And then out of nowhere, Christopher and Kristine walk up to us, smiling and acting really nice. It was weird- people didn't really talk to us, 'cause we weren't exactly dressed to the nines. So when two people, _especially_ two kids our own age, walked up to us and started being really nice, we were pretty jazzed. So we started hanging out with them more and more, and when we figured out we were all mutants, they offered us to move into their guest bedrooms."

"Zere parents let two strange kids sleep in zere guest bedroom?" Kurt asked.

"There parent's didn't know," Michael explained. "They were always away filming. That's why they got so attached- they have abandonment issues."

"No," Emili said, "they have 'we're loonies' issues. Anyway, one day, Christopher asked me out, and Mike asked Kristine to go get ice cream, which, I guess was a date. And at first, it was really fun being in a relationship. We double-dated a lot, Christopher was a real gentleman, and everything was a lot of fun. Then things started getting scary.

"They started to get super possessive. Like, really super possessive. You know how Michael and I need out one-on-one time? They started thinking that while Mike and I were just sitting around talking, we were like making out profusely or something. Christopher 'didn't allow me' to see Mike with out his permission. Kristine, apparently started talking crap about me when I wasn't there. We got so sick of it, Mike and I broke it off with them."

"Zen zey started to follow you guys?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Mike answered. "They're loaded and don't have any parental supervision. They could follow to the moon if they wanted to."

"We tried to tell them to stop, but they refuse," Emili said, exhausted. "I don't know how they find us. We fly really low under the radar. We normally don't get noticed unless we want to be noticed."

"Except, you know, by them," Michael added dryly.

"Vell, zey seemed kind of upset after you exploded at zem, Emili. Maybe zey vill leave you alone now."

Emili gave Kurt a small smile. "Kurt, you're innocence is adorable. But, no, they won't stop. They won't stop until they're dead, and then some. Just you wait. You will be seeing a lot more of Kris and Chris Wells."

Emili was right. Kurt was going to be seeing Kristine and Christopher much more often. Like at school for example, with them standing right along with the Brotherhood, able to keep an eye on their "true loves".


	18. How to Ask Out a Crazy Homeless Girl

It had been over a month since Michael and Emili came to the Institute.

Today was the day.

Kurt was sure of it.

Today was going to be the day that Kurt was going to ask Emili out on a date.

He had always liked her, since the day he saw her. He thought she was pretty, even with the grime on her. He thought she was funny, especially when she tried to pretend she and Mike weren't mutants. He thought she was kind when she cried about the baby bird. And Kurt knew for a fact that whenever he saw Luke talking to Emili, like the two were doing now in Algebra, that Kurt was suppressing the urge to teleport over to Luke and punch him in the face.

But that wouldn't work of course, because someone as sweet as Emili would disapprove of violence to win affection.

It didn't stop Kurt from being jealous. Every girl that Luke says hi to in the hallway fall madly in love with him, and he's been steadily been talking to Emili for the past month. Kurt was surprised that Luke hasn't asked Emili out on a date yet. Kurt thought back to Emili's first day of school. _Maybe I should have varned her about Luke instead of Lance_, Kurt thought. _Zat vould have made zings much easier for me_.

The bell rang and Luke and Emili continued to talk. Getting impatient, Kurt called, "Emili, vee better hurry up before Scott gets tired of vaiting and drives avay."

"Karl, would you calm down?" Luke asked. "Summers can wait five minutes while Day and I talk."

"His name's Kurt," Emili explained, though not as harshly as Kurt would have liked. "Besides, he's right. I should probably get going before Kristine comes in here and tries to skin me alive."

"See ya, New Kid," Luke called after her, smiling that damn smile.

Emili giggled. "Bye Luke."

The two walked along in silence for a while, both in deep thought. Emili broke the silence, asking Kurt who "Becky Holland" was.

"She's a cheerleader," Kurt answered. "Vhy? Zat vas out of novhere."

"She's apparently having a party Saturday, and Luke invited me," Emili responded.

Kurt was fuming. "So, you're going to a party . . . . vith Luke?" Kurt asked.

"With Luke?" Emili asked. "Yeah, I guess."

Kurt didn't talk at all on the way back to the Institute. He went straight to his room when he got back, only coming out at dinner. "I have a project," he'd say when people questioned him about it. Then he would go back into his quiet rage.

Until Michael asked him about it. Then, Kurt grabbed Mike by the shoulders and said, "I need your help."

"Um," Mike said slowly, standing as stiff as a board. "Sure, Kurt. What do you need help vith?"

"Emili."

"Oh good Lord," Mike sighed. "Why her? Why does every guy want to go out with her?" Kurt tilted his head in confusion. "Listen Kurt, I know that Emili is attractive. I may not have any _attraction_, but I still know she's attractive. And a lot of guys want to out with her. But, the both of us kinda stopped the whole, 'dating thing' after the thing with Christopher and Kristine blew up in our faces. But a lot of guys came up to me asking the same question you just did."

"So, you're not going to help me?" Kurt asked sadly.

"Incorrect," Michael stated. "I will help. For two reasons: one, I really like you. Two, I really dislike that Luke kid she's been hanging around with."

"So, Mike, vhat do I need to know? How do I get Emili to go on a date vith me?" Kurt asked, giddy to know that Mike hates Luke almost as much as Kurt does.  
"The thing about Emili," Michael started, "is she's amused by pretty much anything. You can take her to see a movie about a man reading a book and she'd have the time of her life."

"Is zere Emili likes to do, a lot? Like, does she like movies or amusement parks or vhat?"

"Well, she likes ice cream more than the average person," Mike explained. "I mean, she _really _likes ice cream. Like, in a really unnatural way."

"So I should take her out for ice cream zen?" Kurt asked.

"It wouldn't hurt," Mike said. "And another thing: try and make sure its obvious that you're asking her out. Emili is a bit oblivious to certain aspects of life, and a boy asking her on a date is one of them."

"So if I say, 'vant to get some ice cream?' she vould zink. . ."

"She would think, oh look, my friend Kurt is asking me to get some ice cream before," Mike said. "It's happened before. Some guy tried to kiss her after what he _thought_ was a date, and when he tried to kiss her, Emili hit him in the head with a lamp from across the room." He paused a bit, before, "And we never went to Houston again."

"I'll just say, 'Emili, I vas vondering if you vant to go on a date vith me. I vas thinking that maybe ve'd go get some ice cream,'" Kurt practiced.

Mike thought for a bit, then said, "Say that exact thing, but in German."

"Emili, ich frage mich, wenn Sie auf einen Termin vith mir gehen wollen. Ich dachte, dass vielleicht hatten wir holen ein Eis." After a pause, Kurt asked, "Vhy German?"

"It's her favorite."

"She has a favorite language?" Kurt asked.

"I told you, man," Mike told him, "my best friend's quite weird."


	19. Date Night

Kurt looked into the kitchen, observing carefully what was going on. Emili sat in the kitchen of smiling and laughing with Kitty and Evan. Every five seconds Kurt would take a deep breath, make like he was going to walk into the kitchen, then stopped himself at the last moment. Never in his life was Kurt more petrified than he was now. _Asking a girl out is hard, _Kurt thought, banging his blue head on the wall. Again Kurt attempted to enter the kitchen, but, yet again, something in his heart stopped him.

"Dude," said Michael from behind, "just ask her already."

Kurt jumped, not knowing he was there. "Ow long ave you been standing zere?" Kurt asked, panting.

"Long enough to know you're pathetic," replied Michael. "You've been doing that awkward stop, start thing for the past ten minutes. What exactly are you waiting for?"

"I don't know!" Kurt said. "I mean, it would elp if she vasn't vith Evan and Kitty."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Mike said, and with that, he walked into the kitchen. As soon as he sat down, Emili got up and left the kitchen.

"Guten tag, Kurt," Emili said, bubbly as ever, and kept walking past him.

"Guten tag," replied Kurt softly. Kurt stood there for a few moments, then burst, "Möchten Sie an einem Tag mit mir gehen?"

Emili stopped in her tracks. Slowly she, turned around, and with a confused expression, asked, "You want to go on a date . . . with me?"

Kurt sighed, feeling a weight of depression in his stomach. "I- I don't know. It's- it vas a stupid idea. I ope zat ve could still-"

"No, wait, Kurt, what? You think I'm saying no?" Emili began to laugh. Kurt was extremely confused. "I'm not saying no. I was just kind of . . . startled, you know? 'Cause, like, the first person I've ever gone out with was Christopher, which you know, was kind of a let down, given the fact he's insane, and I've never really been asked out again, 'cause, you know, when you're homeless don't really get asked out, you are out, and yes. I would love to go on a date with you. When and where?"

Kurt took a moment to process all of this, then smiled and said, "Um, ow about tonight at seven? I can take you to get some ice cream?"

Emili grabbed Kurt by the shoulders and said, "Kurt. I love ice cream. See you at seven!"

~~~DON"TREAD~~~

"And that is the story of the first and last time Michael and I went to Texas," Emili said. Kurt laughed at Emili's story. "Yeah . . . I hated that state. But I love New York! The city is fantastic. I met some of the best people there. Like my doctor!" Kurt gave Emili a confused look. "It's less pathetic than it sound I promise."

Kurt smiled at Emili and said, "I zought zat you said you vere from New Orleans."

"Well, orginially, yes," Emili said. "However, after Mike and I were adopted, we only really went back to go to the cemetary and visit Mike's parents, and occasionally stalk my mom."

She and Kurt were sitting in the ice cream parlor near the Institute. Kurt laughed with Emili, just pondering his luck. Emili looked beautiful, opting to not wear her normal grunge attire. Her hair down, a bit held off to the side with a white bow. She was wearing a pair of black pants as well as a red dress shirt. The only normal thing she was wearing was black Converse high tops. "Kurt, you're staring. Is everything okay? Do I have carmel on my face?" Emili asked, breaking Kurt out of his trance.

"Oh, no, Emili. You don't ave anyzing on your face. Just, you look very pretty."

Emily giggled into her ice cream. "Thanks. Kitty and Jean tried to get me to wear a skirt or-bleh- a dress, but, obviously, I opted out of those things. I don't like to wear things that are gender specific, you know? Like, women spent years trying to be considered equals, but we still wear clothes that are tailored specificly for women? And why can't guys wears skirt and dresses? I mean, I just don't get that." Emili stopped and Kurt stared at her. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling again."

"No, it's okay. I just didn't expect zat. You're normally much less . . . deep, I guess," Kurt said, a bit wary. He didn't want to insult Emili.

Apparently, though, Emili was not at all insulted. "I guess it's because . . . I didn't really have a fair shake in life. I mean, I'm a generally good person, or I would like to think,I know I've done bad things, but I'm making up for it!- or well, trying to, but life has just been a real pain, you know? Like, first with my mom, then my sister, then my foster dad, and then I was homeless, and life just kind of sucked. So, I guess what I'm saying is-"

"You've never ad anyzing equal, so you vant ze clozes you vear to be as equal as zey possibly can, right?"

"Yeah," Emili said, giving Kurt a small smile. "Exactly, yeah."

And without any prompting, no feeling like he needed to, or push from Michael, Kurt kissed her. And without any guilty concience, any feeling of obligation, Emili kissed him back.

~~~DON"TREAD~~~

After a few moments, the two got up, left the ice cream parlor, and walked back to the Institute, holding hands the entire way home.

Not a mile away, Christopher was kicking everything he could. "How could she do this to me? Kissing that German freak. Doesn't she know I love her?"

"I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: the girl is a whore," Kristine said with a sneer. "I told you, the only way to get her and Michael away from people who could steal them from us is to put them back in there place."

"But Emili hates it there," Chris said.

"But it's the only way," Kris said.

Christopher thought about it, but not long though, for a few moments later, he looked at his twin and asked, "Where is a phone?"


	20. Discovery

Everything was still in the Institute as the students slept that night. After they got back to the Institute, the two of them sat next to each other in the den, watching Evan and Scott play video games, holding hands. The boys began to tease the new couple- the stereotypical "Emili and Kurt, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G,"- kind of annoying Kurt but Emili thought it was adorable. After a while, when the pestering officially embarrassed both of them, Emili kissed Kurt ("Ooh!") and went up to bed.

That night, Wolverine sneaked downstairs, walked into the kitchen, and began rifling through the fridge. Finding a carton of milk, the man began to chug it down. Then, out of the blue, Wolverine's instincts started acting up, sensing a disturbance. Putting down the milk, Wolverine crouched low, and began sniffing the air. He slowly let his claws come out as he walked cautiously into the lobby.

Suddenly, flood lights shone through the windows, lighting up the Institute. Fifty men wearing bullet proof vests burst through the doors, waving guns around and yelling, "Go! Find them! They're in here somewhere!" The men began running everywhere: upstairs, into the den, into the Professor's study.

Wolverine heard one of the children scream, and sprang into action. He began swinging punches at the bullet proof men, not caring who he hit or how hard he was hitting him. From behind him, Wolverine saw Storm float up into the air, her eyes glazed over as she created a wind storm that lifted three of the men into the air and dropped them to the floor. As she did this, Kurt appeared, and began using hand-to-hand combat with one of the men. Wolverine smiled a little as he saw Kurt keep his hands up, however, Kurt's teleporting to keep away from the man's swings wasn't in the lesson. In what seemed like no time at all, it looked as though the entire Institute was in the lobby, fighting off the invading forces. And then all of a sudden, all the bullet-proof men in the lobby stopped moving.

Professor Xavier rolled into the middle of the frozen battle. He looked around at the men, and asked, "Which of you men is in charge here?" Silence. The professor asked again, "Who is in charge?"

A few more moments of silence, then one of the men called out, "I am." The man, trapped in his frozen state, looked very odd, with one of his legs stuck outwards and his head half turned. Normally, though, the man would look quite professional. The man had short black hair flecked with a bit of grey, with a small mustache of the same colour. His eyes were the same brown as his skin, and just by looking at his face Xavier should have been able to tell he was the boss.

"Who are you?" Xavier asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Special Agent Carl Burke," the man said. "I have a warrant for the arrest of two escaped convicts hiding here."

The X-men looked around at each other, confused. "Convicts?" Wolverine growled. "We don't hide escaped convicts here."

"We received an anonymous tip that they are hiding here," Agent Burke said.

Xavier said, "Well, your tip was wrong. My colleague is right, there are no convicts here. Our security system is extremely advanced. There's no way any human could sneak on or off the grounds."

Then two men ran down the stairs. They were completely out of breath, and they were shaking there heads. "Not here. They must have split when they heard us coming."

"Damn it. Not again," Carl said. He turned to look at the professor. "They're names are Jacobey Benson and Anastasia Gustastopilous. Have you seen them?" A pause, then, "Jones! Get them a picture." Jones, the man from the stairs, ran over to the professor and showed him a picture

"Jacobey Benson and Anastasia Gustastopilous?" Wolverine questioned, laughing gruffly. "Trust me, if there were anyone by _that_ name here, we would-"

"Logan," Xavier said. "Look."

Walking over, Wolverine looked down at the picture, and his mouth dropped. "No. It can't be."

The picture the mug shots of two children, not even twelve years years old. A blonde-haired, green-eyed girl with a round face. A serious looking brunette boy with deep brown eyes.

Emili and Michael.

"So you do know them?" the agent asked.

"Yes . . ." the professor said slowly. "Yes . . . they have been living with us for the past month. They were calling themselves Emili Day and Michael Burns. They . . . they don't really seem like the convict type."

"The convict type?" Scott asked. "Emili started crying when that bird died. Trust me, you have to have the wrong people."

"Then where are they son?" Agent Burke asked Scott. "Then where did those two innocent children go?"

There was silence as that sunk in. Then Storm said, "Maybe, if you told us somethings about . . . Anastasia and Jacobey, we would able to connect it to something Emili and Michael told us."

Agent Burke looked at the group. "You want me to tell you about Gustastopilous and Benson?" The X-men nodded. "Well, here goes the sad tale of Jacobey Benson and Anastasia Gustastopilous."


	21. Their Story

"This story begins strangely," the special agent began. The lobby of the Institute was dead silent. "Jacobey and Anya – short for Anastasia - were both born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the same hospital, on the same day, at the same exact time. I guess you could say that's why they're so connected. However, while Anya was a happy healthy baby, Jacobey was born sickly. The boy was born with Newborn Jaudice, a liver problem, and he was to remain in an incubator for several weeks. When the kid's parents were driving home from the hospital, a drunk driver hit their car. Both of them died upon impact. Three days into life, and Jacobey was an orphan."

Kitty gave a sad, small gasp, but the rest of the room was silent. Michael was always so quite, so angst-y, so serious with no reason to be. Now they find out that he had a perfect reason.

"Jacobey was unlucky enough to never get completely better," Agent Burke continued. "He was deaf in his left ear, practically blind in his right eye, small, skinny, and had several severe allergies. No one wanted to adopt him. No one wanted to be the parent of a dying boy.

"The same day Jacobey's parents died, Anastasia Gustastopilous was coming home from the hospital. Anya was the illegitimate daughter of a German woman named Gretchen and a Russian-Greek father. She had a half-sister, too- Elsa, who six at the time. When they got inside the apartment, Gretchen found a note from her boyfriend: he was leaving because of Anya. Gretchen was never the same after that. She began drinking, and hated Anastasia with a passion. And then, when the hated girl and the sickly boy turned four, they- how do I phrase this -mutated."

"_Four?_" Scott, Evan, and Wolverine exclaimed at the same time. It was obvious that everyone, with the exception of Kurt, was utterly shocked about the age Emili and Michael mutated. It seemed like Kurt was the only person that Emili and Michael told about their premature mutation. Kurt wondered if they told any of the others about "riding the wire."

"Yes, four," Carl said slowly. "Why?"

"It's just. . ." the professor started, ". . .it's just that four is a bit _early_ to begin mutating."

"Yeah," Wolverine growled. "Early by ten years."

The agent was shocked, and was silent. Impatient, Evan said, "Well? What happened after they mutated?"

"Well," Agent Burke said, coming out of his stupor, "Jacobey, well, _changed_. Physically, I mean."

"Yeah, we know that," Scott explained. "We've all seen his arm."

"Not just his arm," Burke said. "His entire body. Like I said, the boy was small, skinny, sickly. Deaf and blind. Do you see him like that now?" One or two of the X-men slowly shook their head. "Exactly. One of his roommates in the foster home heard him scream during the night. They said he ran into the bathroom, and when the kid came out, he was taller, stronger, walking perfectly without his glasses. And, yes; he was half a robot.

"Anastasia's discovery was during the day, in the middle of her apartment. Gretchen was in the corner, drinking, and Anya and Elsa was fighting over the remote for the T.V. Elsa pushed her sister into the television, and she, just well, fell into it. You know, she . . . became one with the T.V.

"Anastasia, well . . . she was only four. She thought it was a fun little joke. She came out of the television, and started laughing. Then," Carl paused to sigh, "her mother got a gun.

"Gretchen was heavily intoxicated. That probably saved Anya's life, because police reports show that the only bullet hole in the house was a good ten feet from where Anastasia and Elsa were. Then Gretchen started to point her gun at Elsa, and Anya, bless her, ran to her mother and tried to pull the gun away from her mother, and, in return, absorbed the gun. With the gun out of their mother's reach, Elsa ran to the phone and called the police. Gretchen was arrested, and Anastasia and Elsa were put into a foster home. Bet you could guess who else was there."

"Micha-" Jean started, then stopped herself. "Jacobey?"

"Bingo, kid," the agent said. "Reports say they were inseparable the entire time they were in the home, then, one day, Dom Marco walked into the foster home. He said he wanted to adopt two kids who were different. He got a couple of mutants."

"Dom Marco . . . zat's Michael and Emili's foster fazer, isn't it?" Kurt questioned. Finally, the man behind the stories had a name.

Agent Burke nodded. "He said he had a brother was a mutant, wanted to help the kids feel accepted, the whole bit. I think the home was just happy they were able to get rid of two un-adoptable mutants. The kids kind of hopped off the radar for a while, then, when they were near five, they were back on the radar, robbing banks."

"Bank robbers?" Evan blurted out. When the agent nodded, Evan looked like he was about to die laughing. "Those two are _not_ bank robbers. Emili can't even fighting anyone. How can you expect her to try and rob anything."

"Honestly," Kitty said. "Emili wouldn't rob anyone. And even if she did, Michael would zap her so hard she-"

"They have stolen," Jean said. Everyone stared at her. "Remember," she said, "their first day of school? When we were warning Emili about Lance? She said, _'Lord knows Michael and I have stolen a lot of stuff_,' or something like that."

"She probably meant food and stuff," Kitty tried.

"Or money," Scott said quietly. After a few moments of silence Scott said, "Please continue."

"Well, that was that, really. They kept robbing banks for six years, then they turned themselves in when they were eleven. Got bored of it I guess. The two of them = were in prison for a year when they broke out."

"How'd they manage that?" Wolverine asked.

"A part of Anya's powers allow her to travel using electric wires. She found an electric outlet , then got herself and Jacobey the hell out of there."

"Vat happened to zeir foster fazer?" questioned Kurt.

"He was arrested along with the kids. Then he said they forced him into it and wanted nothing to do with them any more. He got all the papers necessary to make sure the kids were no longer his problem, posted bail, and was never seen again," Carl explained, a bit angrily, as though he hated what Dom did to Emili and Michael. And, his face becoming soft again, said, "Listen: none of us want Jacobey and Anastasia arrested. We all think they're good kids. Confused and misguided, but good kids. But they did break the law- multiple times- and the fact is, they have to be taken back to prison. They have to accept their punishment."

By now, everyone in the Institute was deep in thought. They felt bad for Emili and Michael, or Anya and Jacobey, or whoever, but they were also angry. They were the X-men, they fought for truth and justice. They accepted these kids into their home without a second thought, and those kids can't even bother to tell them they were wanted criminals? Scott, who hated anything off the path of good, was especially angry. He tried warning Emili and Michael against bad guys like Lance, when, in reality, these two were much, much worse.

Breaking the hard, awkward silence, Xavier said, "What can we do to help you?"

Agent Burke sighed, as thought he felt bad for telling them Anya and Jacobey's story. Then he said, "I need to see their rooms."


End file.
